Smoketown

In the neurosis-filled city of Smoketown, where birds are outlawed after being blamed for a devastating plague, three purposes collide to alter the city's future. Genetic artist Anna, seeking a lost friend, creates something beautiful that the city fears. Eugenio, recording survivors' remembrances of the plague, unearths Smoketown's deepest secret. Rory, an elderly survivor who has barricaded himself from the city in a luxury apartment, fights his own greatest fear after discovering a connection to Eugenio's discovery. All of Johnson's characters come nicely slantways at their unintended roles in Smoketown's destiny, often hardly caring about the parts they play as they gauge the personal successes of their quests, and the understated, lyrical prose makes even small moments, such as the appearance of a flock of birds within the city's force field, feel triumphant. (July)