A Prayer for Travelers is the debut novel of American writer Ruchika Tomar, published in 2019 by Riverhead Books. The novel won the 2020 PEN/Hemingway Award.[1]
It is a mystery and coming-of-age story,[2] revolving around the friendship between two young women, Cale and Penny, who live in a small town near the California–Nevada border, and the sudden disappearance of one of them.[3][4]
Reception
Adrienne Gaffney in the San Francisco Chronicle described the book as "a portrait of two young women coming of age in a world full of hard men [...] where the brutality of the landscape is matched by the circumstances that her characters live in".[5] Chris Vola on PopMatters gave a rating of 8/10 to the book, highlighting "the visual world that Tomar conjures, a marvelously drawn background of creosote and rabbitbrush, [...] with enough personality to rival any of the ragged souls who populate [...] gas stations, seedy bars, and hotel rooms." while at the same time suggesting that "ome of Tomar’s stylistic choices leave something to be desired".[6]
The judges of PEN/Hemingway, awarding the book as best debut novel in 2020, called it "a remarkable piece of writing, astute in style and structure and also in the story that it tells."[1]
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