For readers of George Saunders, Kelly Link, and Karen Russell,

This Census Taker

is the poignant and uncanny new novella from award-winning and bestselling author China Miéville. After witnessing a profoundly traumatic event, a boy is left alone in a remote house on a hilltop with his increasingly deranged parent. When a stranger knocks on his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation are over — but by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? Is he the boy’s friend? His enemy? Or something altogether other?