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“Gorgeously written, tightly wound, with language as precise as cut glass…Maksik renders the soul of his heroine, a Liberian refugee, with stark honesty so that we understand both the brutality of what she has run from and the terror she experiences as she tries to build her life back. I was undone by this novel. I challenge anyone to read it and not come away profoundly changed.”
— Marisa Silver, New York Times bestselling author of Mary Coin
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“This novel is spellbinding. In its tenderness, grandeur and austerity, it reminds us that there is no country on earth as foreign, as unreachable, as the frantic soul of another human being.”
— Susanna Sonnenberg, New York Times bestselling author of Her Last Death
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“A bold book, and an instructive
one…[Maksik] has illuminated for us, with force and art, an all too common
species of suffering.”
— New York Times Book Review
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“Beautiful…Compelling and visceral…One
rushes until the fever breaks, dazed and haunted by its power.”
— Chicago Tribune
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“Immensely powerful…Beautifully
written…Jacqueline is a mesmerizing heroine.”
— Boston Globe
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“Beautiful… It will leave you breathless
and speechless; it will send you reeling.”
— San Francisco Chronicle
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“Haunting and sensual, Maksik’s
prose deftly intertwines the tenderness and torment of memory with the hard
reality of searching for sustenance and shelter.”
— Harper’s
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“Maksik’s lean, affecting prose
burns…stripped of any excess, entirely attuned to the prospect of survival,
beautifying the simple things that sustain life.”
— Atlantic
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“Beautifully
written…Through an impressionistic stream of consciousness, Maksik slowly reveals
Jacqueline’s ordeal…A novel that measures the ripple effect of trauma and
violence.”
— Daily Beast
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“A moving, deeply felt, and lyrical
novel about past and present.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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“Gorgeous and evocative prose.”
— Publishers Weekly
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“A vivid depiction of
disillusionment, shock, and resilience…Sheds light on a setting great in both
its beauty and violence.//An exploration of terrible brutality and the effort
it takes to survive.”
— Library Journal
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“Jacqueline’s dignity and strength
win the reader over instantly…Maksik’s book is moving, painful, and beautiful.
It will change you.”
— Booklist