Children of a Lesser God

Abstract

Children of a Lesser God is a novel-in-progress that traces the past and present of the Traorefamily—new Malian arrivals in the U.S. by way of post-war Algeria—as well as the lives of their immigrant friends, neighbors, and adversaries. This submission represents the

rst third of the ongoing

project.The included section, titled Ordinary Grief, follows Fatima, the mother, as she loses her sense of self and descends into loneliness and mental illness; Issa, as he struggles with social isolation; and Mariam, as she grapples with the cost of assimilation and acceptance into American society. The novel as a whole follows the Traore children as they lose their mother to immigration-induced suicide, forcing them to navigate life unmoored—disconnected from both their homeland and the woman who once anchored them.