Leak

Austin, Texas, summer 1998: sixteen-year-old Nathaniel Rothstein discovers Terry Tucker's Boxing Club while staying with his aunt and uncle. Helping him with this and other discoveries is charismatic storyteller David Dalice, a hospitality manager at a care home and former boxer. Under David's guidance, Nathaniel finds a new, more confident self and even catches a bit of a tan. But then, one night, David disappears without a trace. Could Sasha Semyonova know something? Years later, everyone is visiting the same boxing gym. A shy policewoman, an up-and-coming boxer, a retired history professor. Ed practically lives at the Boxing Club.

In Únik, Lucas Schaefer roughly yet lovingly weaves timelines, coincidences, and the fates of a colourful gallery of characters into carefully thought-out patterns. Against the backdrop of a changing America, he explores themes of race, sexuality, identity, immigration, and police brutality, letting himself be guided by detours that lead straight to the point.