Nachtschwärmerin

A novel about the darkest sides of society and the struggle of a young woman for all those she loves. Seventeen-year-old Kiara lives with her older brother Marcus in a rundown apartment in East Oakland, California. The two siblings have dropped out of high school and are left to fend for themselves without their parents. Kiara desperately tries to find a job to pay the rent. But no one will hire a minor. Eventually, she ends up in prostitution. Her only ray of hope is ten-year-old neighbor Trevor, whom she cares for devotedly. Until her name is mentioned in a scandalous trial against the police. If Kiara testifies, she will put everyone she loves in danger.

Leila Mottley describes the most brutal, heart-wrenching reality with the sensitivity of a poet. This is an electrifying debut.

Leila Mottley's language shakes you awake and flows like hot lava, brilliantly capturing an Oakland with its uncontrollable urban vibrancy. Nightcrawlers, every page bursting with intensity, must be devoured.

Nightcrawlers, written by an American teenager, is the most captivating book of my life. Yet even that sounds almost too brittle when considering how Leila Mottley pulls us into the bodies, the city, and a nation consumed on the arduous path to liberation while simultaneously sprinting toward inevitable failure. Nightcrawlers is a blistering, incredibly readable story that presents a written provocation on every page. Be ready. Or not. It doesn't matter. Leila Mottley is here.