Foreign Seed

NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION FINALIST
GOLDBERG PRIZE FOR DEBUT FICTION

Set in China as America gets involved in WWI, Foreign Seed follows newly minted Vice Consul Samuel Sokobin's first case as he investigates the disappearance of Frank Meyer (of Meyer Lemon fame), explorer for the U.S. Department of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, when he disappears from a steamship on the Yangtze River.

A rugged, Dutch immigrant, Meyer made a living seeking foreign specimens as a man without a country, a feeling Sokobin denies as he ticks off one more year living in temporary housing in China and shielding himself from the possibility of close friendship. Moreover, Meyer is rumored to be Jewish, igniting the prejudice Sokobin can't shake as the son of Jewish immigrant laborers in New Jersey.

Sokobin needs to find Meyer, and quickly, if the body is to be properly cared for. Sokobin travels upriver with his enigmatic interpreter, Mr. Lin, while fighting flaming visions of his fighter pilot little brother's apparent demise in France. Always the hotshot, young Ethan has been missing for months, and Sokobin refuses to betray him by mourning him. The search for Meyer leads Sokobin from Nanking to uncharted villages to the streets of Shanghai, where he is confronted with his past and a love that is no longer within his reach.

A sweeping tale of loss and grief, Foreign Seed is a moving testament to friendship, faith, and the resilience of the human spirit. Allison Alsup's exquisitely-researched debut novel will stay in readers' hearts and minds long after they've turned the last page.

"Foreign Seed, with its subtle, subterranean Heart of Darkness rumblings, is one of the most satisfying novels I've read in a long time. I got completely and gratefully lost in its rich setting and memorable characters. You will, too." —Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Somebody's Fool

"Foreign Seed is an ambitious novel about a cautious man. It's 1918 and Samuel Sokobin, the new American vice-consul in Nanking, China, lives in a stressful milieu of casual anti-Semitism from his colleagues and his own ignorance of the Chinese world. In order to succeed, he tries to subvert his Jewish identity and present a bland, anonymous self. Then Sobokin is assigned to find an explorer who has drowned the Yangtze River—or perhaps has been murdered. Alsup handles the fascinating complications of Foreign Seed beautifully, pulling the reader through Sobokin's fears to his triumphant growth." —Laura Furman, author and former series editor of The O. Henry Prize Stories

"In Allison Alsup's stunning debut novel, Foreign Seed, American Vice Consul Samual Sokobin's search for a missing explorer forces him to come to terms with the probable death of his brother, an MIA WWI fighter pilot. Sokobin ultimately finds comfort and wisdom in the most unlikely places and fortitude in his abandoned Jewish faith. With soul, grace, and psychological savvy, Alsup infuses hope into this tale of uncertainty and grief. Foreign Seed is an elegantly constructed novel of our time, one that will stay with me for a long while." —Michelle Brafman, author of Washing the Dead and Swimming with Ghosts

"Alsup has produced the perfect book. It is beautifully written. The characters are maddeningly interesting. She explores issues of the time with a persistent whisper. And it revolves around the man who sent the Meyer lemon to America. The barest thread of a connection anchors the entire book in her astonishing imagination. It was a delicious read that I did not want to end." —Liz Williams, author of Nana's Creole Italian Table, Lift Your Spirits, and New Orleans: A Food Biography, and Tip of the Tongue podcast

"Allison Alsup's deftly propulsive debut illustrates the profound, rippling impact of even the smallest gestures and revelations—and how empathy transcends language and customs. What begins as a missing person's case shifts into a moving journey of one man's reckoning with grief, loss, and personal fallibility. Evocative and elegiac, Foreign Seed casts a spell of quiet wonderment." —Chin-Sun Lee, author of Upcountry

"In a narrative that relies less on the facts of the historical events that inspired the author than it does on the perennial human quest to stay longest with our most unanswerable questions, Allison Alsup creates the story of one man's reckoning with history and himself. Alsup's Sokobin embarks on a sojourn that is rooted in his physical movement up the Yangtze River, though it is the way that journey forces him to traverse his own psyche that takes over. A read that will deliver a satisfying resolution for fans of fast-paced historical fiction." —Ru Freeman, author of Bon Courage: Essays on Inheritance, Citizenship, and a Creative Life

"Allison Alsup's richly detailed, atmospheric novel, Foreign Seed, transports us to a fascinating, unfamiliar time and place. Based on history and infused with mystery, her engrossing narrative, set in a turbulent warlord-ridden China, occurs over just seven days in 1918... Themes of friendship, family, and faith create the weft and warp in Alsup's beautiful historical mystery." —Martha's Vineyard Times