The Last Karankawas

"Beautiful, complex, and subversive, The Last Karankawas is an important book about Texas from a powerful new voice in American fiction. I loved it." —Elizabeth Wetmore, New York Times bestselling author of Valentine

For fans of Yaa Gyasi and Cristina Henríquez—a kaleidoscopic, emotionally charged debut novel about a tight-knit community of Mexican and Filipino American families on the Texas coast.

Welcome to Galveston, Texas. Population 50,241.

Carly Castillo has only ever known Galveston. For as far back as she can remember, her grandmother Magdalena has claimed that they descend from the Karankawas, an extinct Texan tribe, thereby tethering them to the island. But as Carly ages, she begins to imagine a life elsewhere, away from the legacy of her parents’ abandonment. Meanwhile, Jess Rivera, her boyfriend and all-star shortstop turned seaman, treasures the salty, familiar air. He’s gotten chances to leave Galveston for bigger cities with more possibilities. But he didn’t take them then, and he sure as hell won't now.

Moving through these characters’ lives and those of the individuals who circle them, Kimberly Garza presents a mosaic depiction of everyday survival in Southern Texas. When word spreads of a storm gathering strength offshore, building into Hurricane Ike, they each must make a difficult decision: board up the windows and hunker down, or flee inland and abandon their hard-won homes.

Unflinching, lyrical, and singular, The Last Karankawas is a portrait of America rarely witnessed, where browning palm trees and oily waters mark the forefront of ecological change. It is a deeply imagined exploration of familial inheritance, human perseverance, and the histories we assign to ourselves, establishing Kimberly Garza as a brilliant new literary voice.