Karen Russell blends history and fantasy in her new novel

How do you carry someone else’s memory — both in body and in mind?

The prairie witch in Karen Russell’s fantastical new novel, “The Antidote,” describes it as a pressure and a weight. She has the ability to receive the memories of her fellow citizens in a small failing town in Nebraska, which offers relief to anyone who feels like their pasts are too heavy to bear.

“Whatever they can’t stand to know,” she says, “the memories that make them chase impossible dreams, that make them sick with regret and grief. Whatever cargo unbalances the cart, I can hold on to anything for anyone.”

But when a Dust Bowl-era storm blows through, the deposited memories likewise rush away. What happens when the past is forgotten?

Russell’s long-awaited novel contains epic calamity, deep friendship and just enough magic to stir the pot as she reckons with the consequence of collective forgetting.

Guest:

• Karen Russell is the author of many books, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist, “Swamplandia.” Her new novel is “The Antidote.”

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