DAYTIME MOON
A perceptive, wholly original take on climate change and the embodiment of ecological collapse.
Isa has a gift. Premonitions, intuitive insight, a knack for tarot. But she is adrift.
Years ago, she ran away from one coast to the other and never looked back, but when her brother Cole unexpectedly shows up on her stoop, she’s convinced that it’s time to go home. Back in the California desert, Isa is swept up in her former life of late-night drag races by the Salton Sea, beers with the locals, and haunting reminders of the twin sister she lost and the mother she never got to meet.
When Dane, the man who raised them, becomes terminally ill, Isa is forced to confront everything she ran away from. In a posthumous letter, his revelations ignite her fearless internal drive. Traveling up and down California highways, through desert and forest, roaring coastline and border towns, Isa will follow the signs so delicately woven into the fabric of her life – a name, a constellation, a painting, a gleam of recognition on the water’s surface. If she can piece them together, she just might reunite the shattered remains of her beloved family.
Artfully narrated, Schlottman’s novel is an unforgettable journey through hidden stories, the shimmering fluidity of memory, the depths of women's secrets and the magic of transmutation.
Coming May 2026 from Unnamed Press
Early Praise
With exquisite writing, openhearted characters, and a compelling quest to unearth family secrets, Daytime Moon absolutely shines. From New York to coastal California, a vivid and thoughtful story unfolds. Pieces of a mother’s hidden life come together, while Mother Earth shows signs of coming apart. The harsh realities of stranded whales and Amazonian fires meet the mystical powers of tarot cards and dreamcatchers, as Schlottman creates a wonderfully complex texture giving readers an immersive and unforgettable read.
– Candi Sary, author of Magdalena
