Holler, Child

Where snow come to cover up the dirt in places where grass don't never grow like icing covering up chocolate cake or brownies or anything dark and sweet. The East Side. Where you be happy poor and don't try to pretend you can fuck your way out. I just pretend in my mind I was brought up poor and wasn't never no whore.

"Ma'am?" the girl say, like I done confused her. Lines come up on her forehead. Make all them big freckles look like they shifting. Like she got skin like a sow. Skin that got a life of its own and move and breathe and filthy. She run her hand through her stringy red hair. White-folk hair. I pray to Jesus she don't leave none of it in my orange shag carpet.

"Some folks see green in the summer. But come this time of year, everybody trees look like them out yonder." I nod my head at the window. I want to make sure she get a good look at the naked, flimsy trees out there. "Like they naked. Like they poor," I say after a while.

"Oh. Yes," she say, nodding her head and letting her eyes open real wide like she recognize something I just said. She lift up her head a little bit to look past me-to look out my window. "But won't you let the dog in? He's so small for the cold." I don't say nothing, but she say something else. "Joshua's father, Ms. Hawkins. I asked about him. Remember?"

I sigh real loud. I want her to know that what she asking me to talk bout don't come easy. I'd rather tell her my momma was a junkie whore just like her momma, and the little two-room shanty the government help me rent now would've been a mansion in the sky for either one of them. I want to tell her I was fourteen and pregnant when Butch Ugewe come to the Hitching Post and saved me. Made me his. A honest woman. I want to finally tell somebody-anybody-how Momma ain't put up no fight. How all Butch had to do was offer her a little bit of under-the-table money and she let him take me. But I can't.

I shrug my shoulders. "E

 profound an excellent collection with true staying power. Every single story could stand on its own but works beautifully toward the whole. Associated Press

Powerful Holler, Child, with equal fidelity, visits the extraordinary and the ordinary, the neglected and the grave In Watkins very capable hands, grief often shines a light on the labyrinthian quality of love. San Francisco Chronicle

Part of what makes Watkins' collection so enveloping is her mastery of the slow reveal...Watkins [is] so good at capturing the depth of her characters, sometimes finding redemptive moments amid all the pain. She has an acute eye for the resentments and betrayals that can accumulate over a long marriage and the untenable sacrifices others can demand of us, but she also captures how love can sometimes be enough to hold things together. Minneapolis Star Tribune

"A profound, haunting collection that follows Black men and women in West Texas...The tragedies that haunt the pages of this collection are rendered beautifully and with great care; they are the kind a reader will carry with them forever." Electric Lit, "Best Short Story Collections of 2023"

A book for anyone who likes surprises in their stories, for short-story fans Find Holler, Child and enjoy. Bookworm Sez

Watkins collection is pitch perfect and bittersweet Holler, Child is a masterful and deeply heartful look into the lives of a diverse set of emotionally complicated characters. Southern Review of Books

Watkins characters are people most of us know, or at least people we know about. They live right here in Texas, and they touch all of our lives in myriad ways, be it intimately or merely in passing. Dallas Morning News

Luminous...Despite betrayal, violence, and loss, the decision to survive sometimes, with a hope to someday thrive thrums loudly throughout this profound collection. Shelf Awareness

The stories explore themes of love, betrayal and forgiveness and leave you wanting more. The Root, "Books by Black Authors We Can't Wait to Read"

Riveting Race, power, and inequality is woven throughout each of these stories featuring men and women alike. Upscale Magazine

Watkins (Perish) portrays West Texas characters faced with loss, disappointment, and betrayal in this stunning collection Adding to the fierce characterizations, Watkins beautifully conveys a sense of place These kinetic stories are no less powerful than Watkins s marvelous debut novel. Publishers Weekly, *starred review*

Eleven searingly alive stories about Black men and women from West Texas explore the ways remorse and resentment can coexist in secrecy Granular yet transcendent storytelling. Kirkus, *starred review*

These tales explore fractured relationships between mothers and sons, couples grappling with the aftermath of infidelity, and children rejected by their families because of their choice of partner Recommend Watkins to fans of Brit Bennett, Angela Flournoy, and Lakeshia Carr. Booklist, *starred review*

Watkins second book is packed full of intriguing, fully realized characters a real feat, give that they appear only for the length of a short story living in the middle and aftermath of personal crises and discoveries If you are looking for expertly crafted writing in your summer reading, this is an obvious choice. Jezebel, "11 Books You Should Read This Summer"

"Every story, every character, every line of LaToya Watkins's Holler, Child is a revelation. But it's the devastating voices of her characters that linger most. I got lost, in a good way, in these pages, in the complex, intimate worlds Watkins conjures so beautifully.  Alluring, intense, and utterly original, this collection is a treasure!" Deesha Philyaw, author of the National Book Award finalist The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

"With her debut book Perish, LaToya Watkins proved herself to be a masterful novelist right out of the gate.  Now, with Holler, Child, Watkins shows herself to be a master of the short story as well. Each of these gorgeous, note-perfect stories packs the full-bodied punch of a novel, but with an economy and compression that are nothing short of miraculous.  How does she do it?  I don't know, but what I do know is that I very much want her to keep doing it." Ben Fountain, author of National Book Award-finalist Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

"Holler, Child is a triumph of storytelling. With compassion, urgency, and exhilarating craft, Watkins plunges headlong into the voices, hearts, and minds of these unforgettable characters. This collection is outstanding fearless, timely, and beautifully layered." Kimberly King Parsons, author of National Book Award-nominated Black Light

"Holler, Child forced me to stop everything I was doing and surrender to its stories richly turbulent with faith, violence, sorrow, reckoning, and exquisite tenderness. LaToya Watkins weaves together character and place with a poetry that evokes Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. A heart-stopping collection." Cristina García, author of Dreaming in Cuban and the forthcoming Vanishing Maps

LaToya Watkins is a singular and fearless storyteller. She writes masterfully about moments of terrible, impossible choice, when everything that makes life worth living is on the line. These are intimate, richly textured portraits of West Texas life, full of longing and tenderness, inevitably tethered to betrayal and heartache. Every story in Holler, Child will confront you heart, mind, and soul and hold you, in its deep beauty. You won t be the same after reading this extraordinary book! Jean Chen Ho, author of Fiona and Jane