Award-winning author Reginald

McKnight s first novel is the hallucinatory

tale of an African American s quest for

identity in two radically different cultures.

In America Evan Norris enjoys all the

comforts of a middle-class existence and

the love of Wanda, a strong and fiercehy

intelligent woman who is determined to see

Evan succeed in her world. Unfortunately

Evan would rather get stoned with a

comfortable band of aging hippies who

entice him to kick back and drop out. In a

moment of surrender Evan joins the Peace

Corps, setting out for Africa both to defer

any sort of real commitment and to discover

the black identity that so empowers

Wanda. Several months later he finds

himself in Senegal, a country both modern

and ancient, where the real and the unreal

are inseparably entwined.

Battling a malarial fever that blurs the

edges of reality, Evan walks away from his

meaningless post with the Peace Corps

and into the life of Aminata. the beautiful.

U.S.-educated daughter of a powerful local

marabou. As their passion intensifies.

Evan s malarial-fever dreams become

more and more real. He finds himself "on

the bus," traveling with a recurrent group

of locals, each one of whom he "becomes"

in moments that lie between reality and

delirium.