By the Lemon Tree

“Keenan Norris has struck gold in the state of today’s California. These absorbing stories concern a rich cast of multi-generational African American characters–from “field” to “street” to “churchin” to school-bookish to innocent to wise characters who are likable and relatable. At heart by the lemon tree is a tender homage to a familial network that has stories to tell at the end of the long day, and damn good ones.”
—Stephen D. Gutierrez, American Book Award winner

There is no single ideal of American fiction, but there are books that capture the many essences of this country–the geography of the land, the weather, the layers of civilization and punishment and possibility and loss that rests over and under all of our cities and small towns,the ways in which the past is always coming upon us and why the future is both a confusion and a romance. Inby the lemon treeKeenan Norris crafts stories that hold these essences in each sentence and scene and we find our self in central California, hot and wild and funny and tragic and captivated in a way only the best stories can.by the lemon tree gives the reader an intimate and immediate connection to the African American experience in central California, the child’s experience in the land of adults, the lovelorn in the land of cynics, and these are experiences that will linger with readers long after these stories come together and go apart.
—Laleh Khadivi, author of A Good Country

An emotional electricity drives this compelling collection of stories that chronicles the fading lives of a once vibrant black community.Norris proves himself to be a remarkable artist with these stories on loss, race and family that are in turn lyrical, witty and haunting.A fantastic read.
–Heidi W. Durrow, New York Times Bestselling author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky (Algonquin Books)