Life in the Time of Hurricanes

In honor of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and in tribute to the journeys of those displaced by the storm, TCU Press is proud to publish this timely novel outside the usual industry schedule—marking the moment with remembrance and reflection.

Heading out in a stolen church van, a ragtag crew of Katrina survivors flees a devastated New Orleans—chasing refuge, redemption, and a second chance in the Texas desert.

In Life in the Time of Hurricanes, Rod Davis delivers a sweeping, sharp-edged novel of loss, resistance, and reinvention. Duane McGuane—ex-journalist, indie theater owner, and accidental leader—gathers a makeshift family of misfits in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, including his fierce girlfriend Maybelle, a mystic’s son, a Welsh lawyer, and a streetwise kid named Boy Jack.

Together they escape the chaos of the Convention Center and hit the road, hoping to outrun grief and start over on a mysterious ranch in Big Bend. From bayous to border towns, they navigate a fractured America haunted by racism, memory, and faith. Along the way, tales are told, identities are remade, and destinies reshaped.

Spiritual, cinematic, and deeply human, Life in the Time of Hurricanes is both a tribute to survival and a reckoning with the storms—natural and man-made—that define us.

A longtime journalist and magazine editor, Rod has done time at The Associated Press, The Texas Observer, Time Inc.’s Cooking Light, D Magazine, Rocky Mountain News, San Antonio Express-News, and the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance. He is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, PEN America, and has served on the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle. He taught in the English department at the University of Texas and Southern Methodist University and was a cofounder of the first system-wide veteran service program at the Texas A&M University System. He is working on a new novel and a film project based in Juárez.