Her First American

My favorite book I've read so far this year came out in 1985 and takes place in the late '50s. You may know Segal (I did, at least) from her fantastic kid's book, Tell Me a Mitzi, but boy, she is quite a novelist too. Her First American features two indelible characters, a young refugee from Austria, Ilka Weissnix, trying to find America, and the American she finds, Carter Bayoux, a charismatic, troubled African American intellectual. Surrounding them is an equally memorable cast of supporting roles and cameos, and while at its heart this is an encounter between identities—young European meets older African American—its brilliance comes from the sheer, strange, lively individuality of everyone she imagines. It's funny, poignant, brilliantly told and heard, and so subtly insightful that it still feels ahead of its time.