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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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WHEN I'M GONE, LOOK FOR ME IN THE EAST

Quan Barry

From the acclaimed author of We Ride Upon Sticks called "spellinbinding" by O, The Oprah Magazinea luminous novel that moves across a windswept Mongolia, as estranged twin brothers make a journey of duty, conflict, and renewed understanding
Tasked with finding the reincarnation of a great lama somewhere in the vast Mongolian landscape, the young monk Chuluun sets out with his identical twin, Mun, who has rejected the monastic life they once shared. Their relationship will be tested on this journey through their homeland as each possesses the ability to hear the other's thoughts.

Proving once again that she is a writer of immense range and imagination, Quan Barry carries us across a terrain as unforgiving as it is beautiful and culturally varied, from the western Altai mountains to the eerie starkness of the Gobi Desert to the ancient capital of Chinggis Khaan. As their country stretches before them, questions of faith - along with more earthly matters of love and brotherhoodhaunt the twins.

Are our lives our own, or do we belong to something larger? When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East is a stunningly far-flung examination of our individual struggle to retain our convictions and discover meaning in a fast-changing world, as well as a meditation on accepting what simply is.

Born in Saigon and raised in Massachusetts, QUAN BARRY is the author of the novels She Weeps Each Time You're Born and We Ride Upon Sticks (winner of the 2020 ALA Alex Award), and four books of poetry, including Water Puppets (winner of the AWP Donald Hall Prize for Poetry and a PEN Open Book finalist). Barry's first play, The Mytilenean Debate, premiers in the spring of 2022. She is the Lorraine Hansberry Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Published 2022-02-22 by Pantheon

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When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East by Quan Barry: In the latest from the author of We Ride Upon Sticks, two identical twins - brothers who fell out years before after one rejected the monastic life they shared - set out across Mongolia to find a great lama reincarnate. The brother who remained a monk, Chulun, struggles to get along with his estranged twin, Mun, a task that only gets more difficult as the terrain pushes their differences to the breaking point. Throughout, Chulun wrestles with questions of faith and brotherhood, along with the futility in trying to hold on to one set of beliefs in a world that seems to change by the minute. Read more...

A dreamlike and lyrical journey seeped in the tenets of Tibetan Buddhism.

Q&A with Amy Quan Barry: World traveling UW-Madison professor shares a new novel and play... Read more...

Faith and brotherhood are at the heart of Quan Barry's compelling new novel When I'm Gone, Look forMe in the East. Set in Mongolia, the story follows a young monk, Chuluun, who sets off on a journey with his twin brother, Mun, to find the reincarnation of a religious figure known as the great lama. Complicating their journey is the fact that the brothers can hear each other's thoughts, and Mun has long since given up the monastic life, leaving his relationship with his brother strained. As they make their way across Mongolia, the boys' faith will be tested, as will their bond. Read more...

...I loved how it dove into questions of faith and family in new and inventive ways... The story grapples with a main question of faith: "Are our lives our own, or do we belong to something larger?" A deeply resonant question for people of all faith backgrounds.

Quan Barry's When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East has been added to the most anticipated list from TIME: "When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East again demonstrates Barry's flair for examining the metaphysical and transporting readers to far-away places. It's about estranged twin brothers in Mongolia who set out on a journey to find the reincarnation of an important spiritual leader. One of the brothers is a novice Buddhist monk, the other has renounced his religion, and their relationship and faith are inevitably tested during their travels." Read more...

This novel couldn't be any more different from Quan Barry's deliciously irreverent 2020 novel We Ride Upon Sticks - except that it is similarly excellent, and similarly immersive, a full-throated plunge into a very specific, fascinating world. When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East is technically about twin brothers - one of whom is a monk, the other a former monk - on a quest to find the reincarnation of a famous lama in Mongolia, but it is really much more about Buddhism, love, and the metaphysics of being. Read more...

Quan Barry's dazzling new novel, "When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East," is centered on themes of faith, history, language and yearning... a dazzling achievement... Read more...

WHEN I'M GONE, LOOK FOR ME IN THE EAST was on most anticipated lists from Lit Hub, PopSugar, and the Millions!

Quan Barry's new novel, When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East, takes readers on a journey across Vietnam and Mongolia. There, a pair of identical twin brothers who know each other's thoughts - one a monk, the other a reincarnated soul - search for the reincarnation of a great Tibetan Buddhist leader. Read more...

An imaginative tour de force.