Hey, it's MPR's Book at the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. I read an advanced copy of Gabriel

Bump's book, The New Normals, back when I was still on parental leave. And maybe that wasn't the best

idea, because it opens with this really intense passage about a couple losing their child.

And that's what sparks their search for

a utopia. It's beautifully written in a way that hurts, you know? And Bump talked about it to NPR's

Aisha Roscoe. And he said that he wrote that part years and years ago. And then he got married

and then they lost a baby. After the break, listen to him talk about accepting change, both on a personal level and societal level, and how he found his way through it all.

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The new novel by Gabriel Bump, The New Naturals, starts with a devastating loss.

A pair of young black academics are left bereft following the death of their infant daughter.

The story charts their descent into grief and ultimately their journey underground,

where they hope to create a

utopia carved out of a hillside in western Massachusetts. But it's a project that doesn't go

according to plan. Gabriel Bump teaches literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel

Hill, and his debut novel, Everywhere You Don't Belong, was named

a New York Times notable book of 2020. He joins us now from New York. Welcome to the show.

Hey, thanks. Thanks for the introduction. I'm really excited. Well, I'm glad for you to be on talking

with us. So the opening of the book is very charring. You have this couple, the mother, Rio, and the father, Gibraltar. They're dealing with the loss of their daughter. Can you talk to me about those two characters?

Yeah. I guess like when I was writing this book and I was trying to figure out like what could make these people just really want to escape the world?

...