Coming in 2026
the ghosts of okuma
Early Praise for the ghosts of okuma
“By turns comic and tragic, Mitch Wieland’s The Ghosts of Okuma is a sharply-written and brilliantly-paced novel . . . Funny, charming, infused with tenderness—a pure pleasure to read.”
Anthony Doerr
“Powerful, and at times playful, The Ghosts of Okuma suggests that our vulnerabilities are a beginning, rather than an end, once we remove our masks.”
Ann Beattie
"Wieland’s haunted teen-aged lovers are both wildly funny and pierced by yearnings everyone in our crumbling world will recognize.”
Andrea Barrett
“This novel is a wild ride, and it leaves you breathless."
Charles Baxter
“Mitch Wieland, always an original, has found unaccustomed depth in the teen romance that frames a father’s search for a runaway child, and achieved a remarkable blend of American and Japanese modes of storytelling.”
Madison Smartt Bell
“Mitch Wieland’s vivid, unsparing prose conjures a Tokyo of snow and light, loss and belonging. Reminiscent of Kobo Abe’s The Ruined Map and Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale For The Time Being, this haunting story lingers like frostbite—quietly transformative, achingly real, and unforgettable.”
Jake Adelstein
“The Ghosts of Okuma is the story of a quest, a brother’s devotion and a son’s cherished duty, but it is mainly a poem to the kind of innocent passion life only offers once. To turn away from this story of hope and grief and adventure, by one of our most talented writers, you would have to have a heart of stone.”
Jacquelyn Mitchard
“The novel's quirky heroine is both tour guide to an underside of Tokyo and a savant capable of unbraiding human emotion. Tragic and empowering, The Ghosts of Okuma delivers on multiple levels, as rare as a perfectly executed snow angel following a winter dusting.”
Ridley Pearson
“A feat of storytelling, at once a mystery, a love story and a clear-eyed meditation on the human condition. Mitch Wieland has written a novel that is vibrant, lyrical and devastatingly true.”
Brady Udall
“From the authenticity of the characters to the wonderment and beautiful intricacies of the world around them, we’re transformed by the ride. Heroes like this impact us far beyond the back cover.”
Marion Dayre
PRAISE FOR WILLY SLATER’S LANE
“Through the brevity born of perfectly chosen words, and through the pervasive intimations of hope, Wieland transforms this story of lives on the edge of ordinary into a psalm.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Transcendent portrait . . . spellbinding.”
Booklist (starred review)
“Immensely moving.”
The New York Times Book Review
PRAISE FOR GOD’S DOGS
“Mitch Wieland’s stories are like his characters: wind-swept, isolated, trembling with longing.”
Anthony Doerr
“Mitch Wieland’s stories have great breadth, powerful sympathies, and a renewing comprehension of our human selves which we only find in the best literature.”
Richard Ford
“Mitch Wieland, one of our country’s best magazine editors, shows where he gets his know-how—he’s a keen creator of fine stories, and makes characters out of sentences all of us should envy.”
Alan Cheuse