Perpetual West

By: Mesha Maren

Narrated by: Tony Chiroldes

​“Stunning . . . A forceful addition to the literature of the U.S.-Mexican border and its ongoing history of tragedy and joy.”—Jennifer Clement, The New York Times Book Review

“Suspenseful, seductive . . . A thrill ride from cover to cover.”—Oprah Daily, “The 50 Most Anticipated Books of 2022”

The riveting new novel by the acclaimed author of Sugar Run, Perpetual West is a brilliant and evocative story of borders—between countries, between lovers, and between facets of the self.

When Alex and Elana move from smalltown Virginia to El Paso, they are just a young married couple, intent on a new beginning. Mexican by birth but adopted by white American Pentecostal parents, Alex is hungry to learn about the place where he was born. He spends every free moment across the border in Juárez—perfecting his Spanish, hanging with a collective of young activists, and studying lucha libre (Mexican wrestling) for his graduate work in sociology. Meanwhile Elana, busy fighting her own demons, feels disillusioned by academia and has stopped going to class. And though they are best friends, Elana has no idea that Alex has fallen in love with Mateo, a lucha libre fighter.

When Alex goes missing and Elana can’t determine whether he left of his own accord or was kidnapped, it’s clear that neither of them has been honest about who they are. Spanning their journey from Virginia to Texas to Mexico, Mesha Maren’s thrilling follow-up to Sugar Run takes us from missionaries to wrestling matches to a luxurious cartel compound, and deep into the psychic choices that shape our identities. A sweeping novel that tells us as much about our perceptions of the United States and Mexico as it does about our own natures and desires, Perpetual West is a fiercely intelligent and engaging look at the false divide between high and low culture, and a suspenseful story of how harrowing events can bring our true selves to the surface.

©2022 Mesha Maren (P)2022 Algonquin Books

Critic reviews

A Most-Anticipated Book of 2022: Oprah Daily, Electric Literature, Literary Hub, LGBTQ Reads, Business Insider, The Millions, and more

A February 2022 Indie Next Pick

"Tony Chiroides’s narration moves fluidly between English and Spanish in this grim, thoughtful novel . . .Chiroides captures the nuances of various Mexican and Mexican-American accents, as well as the complicated inner lives of Alex, Elana, and Mateo. Maren’s prose and, thus, Chiroides’s nuanced narration are often heavy with tension. This is an introspective story about three young people who are struggling to love and live freely in an inhospitable world."—AudioFile Magazine

"Stunning . . . A forceful addition to the literature of the U.S.-Mexican border and its ongoing history of tragedy and joy. This is the terrain of Cormac McCarthy, Pat Mora, Roberto Bolaño, Cristina Rivera Garza and the Mexican poet Jorge Humberto Chávez. Maren’s original descriptions of Ciudad Juárez and El Paso richly add to this literary heritage.”—Jennifer Clement, The New York Times Book Review

“The author of the acclaimed Sugar Run returns with a suspenseful, seductive novel that unearths the unsettling secrets in a marriage. Elana searches for her missing husband, Alex, in an odyssey that carries her from West Virginia to Mexico, probing deeper themes, from fluidity of desire to the rigidity of racism to familial bonds. Maren’s prose is both exacting and luxurious, a thrill ride from cover to cover.”—Oprah Daily, “The 50 Most Anticipated Books of 2022”