Country of Under

Winner of the 1729 Book Prize

Winner of the First Novel over 90,000 Words Award, Next Generation Indie Book Awards

Second place Fiction Grand Prize, Next Generation Indie Book Awards

"This luminous novel of big heart and span is a wonder. I am changed for having read it. The story has become part of my soul."
—Diane Zinna, author of The All-Night Sun

"At its core, Country of Under is about time: The time it takes to understand oneself, others, the family you have—and the family you make. And, the time it takes to develop the patience to wait, as self-revelation unfolds."
—Barbara Fischkin, author of Muddy Cup: A Dominican Family Comes of Age in a New America

"Brooke Shaffner's Country of Under is a novel about the pain and wonder of being between identities. Between male and female. Citizen and immigrant. Fulfilled and empty. Outsider and insider. A novel of our time, told with deep compassion and striking beauty."

—Helen Benedict, author of The Good Deed and Wolf Season

Country of Under, part of the Lost/Found imprint at Split/Lip Press and winner of the 1729 Book Prize at Mason Jar Press, revolves around the transformative friendship of Pilar Salomé Reinfeld, raised by her undocumented father, a descendent of Bolivian Mennonites, in a Mexican-American community; and Carlos/Carla/Río Gomez, a gender-fluid DREAMer raised by their grandmother in the same Texican bordertown.

After years away, tragedy calls them back to the Rio Grande Valley— their lives changed but still bound. Still mourning, Pilar returns to New York City with Río. As Río finds love and Pilar struggles to find a way forward, they drift apart. When Pilar’s decision to engage in a dangerous artivist act finally threatens to tear them apart, they struggle to do what they have done in their best moments: see the beauty in each other, even when the world does not.