Absence

ABOUT “Like a magic trick in which centuries emerge from a thimble, this brief and deeply satisfying novel reveals the ongoing miracle of survival—cloaked in the everyday.” —Lucy Ives, author of Life is Everywhere Haunting and atmospheric, Issa Quincy’s Absence is an indelible nesting doll of human impression and memory. As a child, an unnamed narrator’s mother reads to him a poem. Throughout his life, the poem reappears mysteriously, in the affecting life experiences of others as they are recounted to him. An eccentric and beloved schoolteacher leaves behind a dark secret after his death. An elderly woman returns to the same hotel on the Tunisian coast every year as an act of remembrance for a disappeared brother. The son of a wealthy Indian businessman, the pariah of his family, finds solidarity and the distant pang of freedom within the letters of an estranged Aunt. As we follow characters on their journeys of self-discovery through the jungle of Thailand, as a child in the British countryside, or as an aging doctor on the island of Cyprus, Absence evocatively builds a compassionate symphony of nostalgia, attuned to the drama of everyday and the phantoms that linger with us. Issa Quincy has constructed a transcendent portrait of humanity, deftly illuminating those memories that forever bind us to one another. Reviews “Few books deserve the appellation 'Proustian'; Issa Quincy's Absence, with its circling, wondrous, erudite prose, is one of them. An auspicious debut.” —Karan Mahajan, author of The Association of Small Bombs "Some of my favorite books could be described as "novels of ideas," intellectual exercises that tease out a concept in some completely new or unexpected way. With Absence, Issa Quincy has created something truly remarkable — a conceptual novel that then uses its heady framework to sneak up on you and land a potent emotional punch. So many things surprised me about this marvel of a book — how dark and unflinching it gets, how completely in-touch and understanding it is of memory and connection, and at the end of the day, how deeply human it all feels. So many moments of beauty speckled throughout, just an astonishingly original and affecting piece of literature. One of the books of the year." —Bryan Seitz, Literati Bookstore (Ann Arbor, MI) "Through its archive of narratives nestled within narratives, this exquisite novel creates a beguiling soundscape of echoes and murmurs that reverberates in the mind long after the reading. In lucid, captivating prose, Issa Quincy constructs a palimpsest composed of the fractals and losses that define the numberless strata of the past. Recalling the novels of W. G. Sebald and the films of Chris Marker, Absence is a mournful and luminous meditation on the work of remembering." —Christine Lai, author of Landscapes “A shimmering mirror of a novel, elegiac, Proustian, kaleidoscopic, where absence becomes the gravitational force of creation.” —Lila Azam Zanganeh, author of The Enchanter “Like a magic trick in which centuries emerge from a thimble, this brief and deeply satisfying novel reveals the ongoing miracle of survival—cloaked in the everyday.” —Lucy Ives, author of Life is Everywhere "I approached this one with caution as I was confident it would tug at my emotions. It did, indeed. What an original piece this is! Grateful for this book as it gives you insight but also, most can insert themselves into some of the scenes. Issa gives you sweet spots throughout this piece which help bring you to the surface for air. Loved this with every fiber of my being!" —Jenna Bowman, Morgenstern Books (Bloomington, IN) "Absence, the debut novel by poet Issa Quincy, is a layered collage of glimpses into intersecting lives and memory. Highly recommended! One of my favorite reads of 2025." —Caitlin Baker, Island Books (Mercer Island, WA) "A melancholy collage of interwoven stories that tip-toes toward and away from death. A philosophical exploration of grief, and the ways it makes us human." —Laura Kendall, Second Flight Books (Lafayette, IN) Author Issa Quincy is a British writer. He spent spent several years working as a film archivist. His poetry has appeared in The London Magazine and been anthologised by New Rivers Press. His fiction has appeared in Transition Magazine and The Kenyon Review. Absence is his first novel. He is currently based in New York City. Sneak Peek Coming soon! info CREDITS: Cover design: Eric Obenauf. Cover photo: Annie Spratt [Flowers + A black and white photo of a clock tower], Issa Quincy [Person looking at dunes], Tim Marshall [aerial photography of rainforest], BioDiversity Heritage Library [Map], San Diego Air & Space Museum [Airplane + Outdoor testing in progress], Ishan @seefromthesky [photo of people on sea dock during sunset], David Klein [body of water]. Author photograph: Jim Larsen. PUBLICATION INFO: TERRITORY: U.S. & Canada FORMAT: Paperback Original (1st printing, gatefold) LIST PRICE: $17.95 PAGES: 166 PRINT ISBN: 9781953387998 DIGITAL ISBN: 9781953387981 PUB DATE: July 15, 2025 SIZE: 5.5" x 7.5"