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In this superb speculative novel, Spufford imagines that Manifest Destiny hit a roadblock in the Midwest: The region around St. Louis isn’t Missouri and Illinois but Cahokia, ruled by the Native tribe there.

With ‘Cahokia Jazz,’ Francis Spufford tells an intricate, suspenseful and moving story that rises from the mists of America’s prehistory and morphs into an alternate version of America’s story.

Laura Miller spoke to Francis Spufford, author of the alternate-history mystery novel Cahokia Jazz, which explores those possibilities.

You may not have heard of Cahokia unless you hail from the Midwest.

It’s 1922, and the middle American kingdom of Cahokia is thriving.