Those Who Vanish
By Patricia Grace King
Winner of the 2026 Drue Heinz Literature Prize
Taking place during the decades-long civil conflict, Those Who Vanish follows the stories of Guatemalan citizens and North American expats set on a collision course by war. Martyrs and missionaries, guerrillas and gringos are thrown together amid political violence. A peace worker shelters a rebel fighter. An exile returns to confront the legacy of her parents’ murders. The Virgin Mary begins appearing above an elderly woman’s stove. Set in a world of daily disappearances, the collection addresses a vital question: When all certainties are snatched away, what remains of lives, of memory, of faith?
Early Praise for Those Who Vanish
“The stories in Patricia Grace King’s ravishing Those Who Vanish chronicle the consequences of inhabiting spaces both physical and psychic where one doesn’t naturally belong. In stories ranging from conflict-ravaged Guatemala to the American Midwest and beyond, King’s unrelenting exploration of our need to survive while retaining our humanity propels these narratives into surprising and heart-breaking terrain. As one character poignantly asks of another, ‘The real question is, do you want to be found?’ Those Who Vanish doesn’t present us with easy answers but masterfully interrogates what it means to be lost and the often blinding nature of self-discovery.”
—Quan Barry, contest judge and author of The Unveiling
“Those Who Vanish is a brilliant and strikingly assured debut. Each story is so vividly imagined and beautifully crafted that it offers the reader a whole world. Charting the experiences of Guatemalan citizens and North American expats under state violence, this varied and substantive collection asks us to consider what it means to believe, to seek safety, and to belong. Patricia Grace King is a powerful writer, and this book will remain in your mind for a long time.”
—Alix Ohlin, author of We Want What We Want
“Patricia Grace King’s astonishing stories explore characters who must locate themselves within the vast incomprehensible violence of nearly four decades of state terror in Guatemala. With clear-eyed compassion and intelligence, King plumbs the complexities of these lives shaped by violence: the fear and idealism, naiveté and exhaustion, the righteousness and questioning and faltering and courage. Those Who Vanish is a transporting, harrowing, exhilarating collection, a work of witness that surely grows out of deep and critical love.”
—Kirstin Valdez Quade, author of The Five Wounds
“In the world of Those Who Vanish, every absence is present, every presence is anxiously charged, and every unspoken word hangs between characters as dangerous as a grenade. These are unsentimental stories of cultural collisions and the aftershocks of violent conflict, which Patricia Grace King infuses with a gentle and generous life force.”
—Christopher Castellani, author of Last Seen
“Courageous and provocative, edgy and timeless, Those Who Vanish is a tapestry of stories that leave the reader entranced and aching with truths. Each character confronts, in dramatically different ways, the barriers of time, place, and circumstance while searching for love in a world fraught with violence and sorrow. The tales are finely crafted and deeply felt. King’s prose is concise, rich, and transformative. It demands to be read.”
—Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry, author of The Orchard
“King’s pen is so steady, one forgets they are reading—even as each vanishing hurls them from one unvarnished reality of war into the next. These stories grab by the neck, denying the reader the same reprieve withheld from the characters and the human realities they represent. No, these aren’t love stories. But who needs that when you can be dizzying and unforgettable? Those Who Vanish is an honest, accomplished, and stunning debut that demands and deserves to be read.”
—Mubanga Kalimamukwento, author of Obligations to the Wounded
Publication Date: September 2026
ISBN: 9780822949237