Palaver: a Novel, Bryan Washington
$28.00
In Tokyo, a gay man’s unexpected reunion with his estranged mother from Houston unravels a moving story of love, forgiveness, and the fragile art of connection.
Description
Palaver: A Novel
by Bryan Washington
Hardcover – November 4, 2025
A tender, radiant exploration of love, family, and forgiveness from Bryan Washington, the award-winning author of Memorial and Lot.
Set between Tokyo, Houston, and Jamaica, Palaver follows a young gay man trying to navigate connection and reconciliation in a world that has taught him to run from both. In Tokyo, he drifts between his tutoring job and late nights in a gay bar, entangled in an affair with a married man. When his estranged mother arrives unexpectedly from Texas, the two must confront the silence and distance that has long divided them.
What unfolds is a quiet, deeply emotional story of two people—each wrestling with their own histories of loss, identity, and survival—learning how to meet each other halfway. Between awkward meals, long walks, and a shared affection for a cat named Taro, mother and son begin to ask whether love, after all, might be something that can be relearned.
Written with Washington’s signature intimacy and grace, Palaver moves seamlessly through time and across continents, tracing the fragile bonds between families—both chosen and biological—and the beauty that can still bloom in the aftermath of heartbreak.
A finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction, Palaver cements Bryan Washington as one of the most vital and compassionate voices in contemporary literature.
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