“An elegant, luminous, moving work of lyric prose. Every page shimmers.”

—Carole Maso, author of Defiance and Ava



"[Allio’s] imaginative kindling springs so easily from the language’s sleek metaphors and lyrical bustle and lull, I often found myself enthralled in a near-hallucinogenic manner…Masterly, multi-voiced, mood-altering, wise… cleverly empathic." 

—The Believer



“Remarkable… elliptical… [Allio’s] circles grow inward toward some terrible, original truth.”  

—Chicago Tribune



“‘With his ears made of envelopes,’ postman Willard Heald hears the secret intimacies of the residents of Garner, N.H., the setting of this exceptional debut.”

–Publishers Weekly, starred review



“A shockingly beautiful work…an alluring and unforgettable novel.” 

—Booklist



“[Readers] will find themselves slipping into Allio's deftly-created world…carried away by the current of esoteric diction…absorbed by the lives of the novel's characters. Hours later, they will look up from the novel, blink, and wonder where they are… Garner won me over and wouldn't let me go. This is easily the most important book I've read this year.”

—January Magazine



“Allio's writing - her choice of words and the cadences she utilizes - transports the reader into 1925 New Hampshire.” 

—The Collagist