The Names of the New World: A Novel

A ferocious superstorm strikes Minneapolis, obliterating swaths of the city in minutes. In its wake, three people forge an unlikely bond that will shape their lives for the next twenty-five years: Naomi, a lawyer and an amateur MMA fighter, is a Pacific Islander transplanted to the Midwest for her less-than-satisfying career; Amaré, an investment banker, has grand designs for all the money he’s about to make; and Raheem, a diesel mechanic, is nearly paralyzed by the storm and struggles to save his business.

When Naomi recognizes that energy companies are responsible for the climate-induced superstorm—and the many more to come, potentially dooming her island homeland—she initiates a bitter legal battle, one that culminates in her appointment to a powerful political office in DC with the potential to prevent future tragedies. Yet her rise risks a burgeoning romance with Amaré, whose own ambitions test Naomi’s ethical limits, while Raheem’s fate as a small business owner depends on the couple’s growing power.

Following his much-loved debut, Kawai Strong Washburn turns his gift of mythic sight to the oceans and landscapes we so often overlook in the name of progress. Ranging from the American Midwest to the nation’s halls of power to islands across the Pacific, The Names of the New World is a startling, energetic, and optimistic vision of how we’ll live in this era of overwhelming change.