The Travelers, Porter Regina

Meet James Samuel Vincent, an affluent Manhattan attorney who shirks his modest Irish American background but hews to his fathers meandering ways. James muddles through a topsy-turvy relationship with his son, Rufus, which is further complicated when Rufus marries Claudia Christie.

Claudias mother-- Agnes Miller Christie--is a beautiful African American woman who survives a chance encounter on a Georgia road that propels her into a new life in the Bronx. Soon after, her husband, Eddie Christie, is called to duty on an air craft carrier in Vietnam, where Tom Stoppards play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead becomes Eddies life anchor, as he grapples with mounting racial tensions on the ship and counts the days until he will see Agnes again.

These unforgettable characters lives intersect with a cast of lovers and friends--the unapologetic black lesbian who finds her groove in 1970s Berlin; a moving man stranded in Portsmouth, New Hampshire during a Thanksgiving storm; two half-brothers who meet as adults in a crayon factory; and a Coney Island waitress whose Prince Charming is too good to be true.

With piercing humor, exacting dialogue, and a beautiful sense of place, Regina Porters debut is both an intimate family portrait and a sweeping exploration of what it means to be American today.

Advance praise for The Travelers