Absence

“Quincy’s hypnotic prose is lyrically pleasing as well as philosophically rich.”
—Hannah Bonner, BOMB

"A thoughtful, imaginative work of fiction. Absence might be described as a chimeric blend of Sebald’s Austerlitz and Bolaño’s 2666. The book combines the retrospective gaze of the former with the disparate superstructure of the latter. Quincy’s debut is an inspired one: there is no denying the sheer inventiveness and detail of his architecture."
—D.W. White, Necessary Fiction

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.

Read the excerpt, "Mr Rothlan," at Guernica.

"Absence challenges readers in the best way: it demands their attention, but offers in return a moving, artful examination of what it means to exist in a space vacated and left behind by others. Its contemplative, poetic style invites readers to ponder the beauty and pain in everyday absences and objects. Through a poem, letters, a photograph, and especially stories told and retold, the characters in Absence are able to recall and relive bits of the past long lost to time. Not in a way that sinks into sentimentality, but one which points to the future and leaves space for things that are not-yet."
—Brock Kingsley, Chicago Review of Books

"In combining rare, enthrallingly poetic prose with a decidedly detective-noir influence, Absence hints that perhaps the meaning of presence itself is an archive’s greatest mystery."
—Kyla D. Walker, Electric Literature

"A thoughtful, imaginative work of fiction. Absence might be described as a chimeric blend of Sebald’s Austerlitz and Bolaño’s 2666. The book combines the retrospective gaze of the former with the disparate superstructure of the latter. Quincy’s debut is an inspired one: there is no denying the sheer inventiveness and detail of his architecture."
—D.W. White, Necessary Fiction

“Quincy’s hypnotic prose is lyrically pleasing as well as philosophically rich.”
—Hannah Bonner, BOMB

“Quincy works his lyrical prose like a sculptor, bringing forth his vision slowly but confidently... Quincy’s ability to bring together far-flung locations and disparate experiences delivers a strong emotional punch. He excels in highlighting that no matter how different our lives may look on the surface, we all carry similar longings. Absence is a book worth savoring.”
—Amy Brozio-Andrews, Independent Book Review

“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

"The poignant and globetrotting debut novel from Issa Quincy starts with a poem the unnamed narrator’s mother reads to him. As it reappears with a new orator each time, we learn their journeys through Cyprus, Thailand, Tunisia, and Britain; a haunting portrait of nostalgia."
—Sam Franzini, Our Culture "Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2025"

"Seductively conversational... the novel’s style is its own reward."
—Anthony Cummins, Daily Mail

"In his debut novel, Issa Quincy brings together seemingly disparate lives and locations for a moving exploration of interpersonal connections and unexpected conflicts."
—Tobias Carroll, InsideHook “The 10 Books You Should Be Reading This July”

"An unnamed man recalls conversations and stories told by family, friends and more distant connections, linked together by his own associations. Photographs give rise to memories; tales are inwoven with other tales. It’s done rather in the manner of Rachel Cusk, but without her incisiveness. Instead Quincy delivers vignettes that are all the more haunting for being indistinct: a boy drowns at sea, drug-addicted brothers met by chance recount their history, a donkey is flogged to death, an elderly Arab woman relates the fate of her brother at the hands of French authorities in Algeria... the novel acts as a meditation on time, meaning and forgetfulness."
—Suzi Feay, Financial Times "Best New Debut Novels"

"The punkish family-run Ohio press Two Dollar Radio is your favorite publisher’s favorite publisher. It’s known for daring, beautifully produced books in a variety of genres, and one of its latest is this novel that follows a series of characters in Thailand, Great Britain and Cyprus."
—Michael Schaub, Orange County Register “new books you’ll want to read this summer from independent publishers'

"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)

Issa Quincy is a British writer. He 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.
[Author photograph: Jim Larsen]

Coming soon!

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"