Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaung. There was a time in my life when

if a novel I was reading started veering in the direction of magical realism, I'd tap out.

You know, I used to think novels should either be rooted 100% in realism or we should just be in

full-blown fantasy land. Of course, that thinking

closed me off to a lot of great novels that I've since read and loved, and I realize the

magic in magical realism serves a function in fiction. And it's something we hear about in today's

book. It's with novelist John Verger talking about his book, Devil Is Fine, with NPR's Lauren

Freyer.

I'll let Lauren lay out the actual magical twist for you, but they do get to talking about

the usefulness a little magic can serve.

That's ahead.

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In John Virture's new novel, an unnamed protagonist bangs out a book pitch in the middle

of the night.

Devil is Fine is the story of a biracial black writing professor, grieving the loss of his

son, who inherits a plantation

from the white side of his family. In the process of selling the land, bodies of both the plantation

...