In the mid-1850s, the United States Army tried and failed to import camels to the American Southwest for use in delivering the mail, and also for various military purposes. They dropped the project because people really only knew how to ride horses, but also because the project was beloved by Jefferson Davis, who was a traitor and a slaver. The author of celebrated novel The Tiger's Wife mines this bit of obscure history for one of two intertwined narratives in her lightly and darkly surreal ghost story about the American West. Obreht's gambit picked up the coveted "starred" review in Publishers Weekly, with the critic saying she "knocks it out of the park" with her "mesmerizing" second novel. by Rich Smith