Those We Thought We Knew

Winner of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Prize 2023

'A beautifully fearless contemplation' - S. A. Cosby

'A literary crime thriller about belonging and betrayal in rural America' - Paula Hawkins

Toya Gardner, a young Black artist from Atlanta, has returned to her ancestral home in the North Carolina mountains to trace her family history and complete her graduate thesis. But when she encounters a still-standing Confederate monument in the heart of town, she sets her sights on something bigger.

Meanwhile, local deputies find a man sleeping in the back of a station wagon and believe him to be nothing more than a drifter. Yet a search of the man's vehicle reveals that he is a high-ranking member of the Klan, and the uncovering of a notebook filled with local names threatens to turn the mountain on end.

As two horrific crimes split the county apart to reveal deep and unspoken secrets, an urgent, essential question arises: What do you do when everything you ever believed crumbles away?

From award-winning writer David JOY comes a searing new novel about the cracks that form in a small North Carolina community and the evils that unfurl from its centre for fans of Daniel Woodrell, George Pelecanos, WIlliam Boyle and Ozark.

PRAISE FOR THOSE WE THOUGHT WE KNEW:

'[A] bracing novel . . . both a murder mystery and a deeply intimate story of generational relationships and loss' - Vanity Fair

'An emotionally complex procedural that goes to unexpected places' - Kirkus Reviews

'Spinning the gritty complexities and colors of human nature with beautiful, immersive descriptions of the land, Joy writes both holiness and irreverence with the same weight and care' - Leesa Cross-Smith, author of Half-Blown Rose

'The best novels ask the hard questions and task us to come up with answers. Joy is asking the hardest question and daring us to answer truthfully' - S.A. Cosby, author of Razorblade Tears and All the Sinners Bleed