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“NATIONAL BESTSELLER • CHOSEN AS AN EDITORS’ PICK BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

From Karen Russell, Pulitzer finalist, MacArthur Fellowship winner, and acclaimed bestselling author of Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove, comes a powerful epic set amidst the sweeping devastation of the Dust Bowl. The Antidote tells the story of five distinctive characters whose lives become intricately woven together in the aftermath of a catastrophic dust storm that engulfs their fictional Nebraska town.

Recognized as a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by Lit Hub, Marie Claire, TIME, Vulture, Esquire, People, The Chicago Review of Books, and BookPage, this mesmerizing tale begins on the infamous Black Sunday dust storm, battering the already-struggling town of Uz, Nebraska. Yet Uz faces more than environmental ruin, grappling also with profound economic decline in the throes of the Great Depression and the haunting echoes of its violent past.

At the heart of Russell’s vividly realized narrative are unforgettable characters: a mysterious Prairie Witch, whose body stores the townspeople’s hidden memories and secrets; a Polish immigrant and wheat farmer whose cautiously guarded fortune soon turns sinister; his orphaned niece, a gifted basketball star turned apprentice witch fleeing her loss; an outspoken scarecrow; and a dedicated New Deal photographer armed with a time-altering camera, whose revelations threaten to reshape history itself.

Above all, The Antidote is a powerful exploration of America’s complex relationship to its own selective memory—confronting the nation’s deliberate historical erasures and inherited denial, uncovering hidden truths and illuminating extraordinary possibilities. Echoing hauntingly relevant warnings for today’s climate crisis, Russell challenges readers with a thought-provoking vision of what was lost, what might have been—and ultimately, what could still become reality.”