by Lee Martin
Praise for Lee Martin
Such a Life
“[Martin’s] prose is carefully controlled, which is a welcome counter to the flash, drama, and broad comedy that mark noisier (and more factually suspect) memoirs.… Martin is an expert memoirist willing to explore every remembered utterance for emotional weight.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Both frank and compassionate, Martin’s tales will entertain memoir readers as well as fans of his novels.”
—Booklist
“Indeed, though his latest may be just one iteration of many possible tellings of his life, Martin’s honest and well-paced prose makes the repeated attempts feel fresh, and most of all, worth it.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Martin has, over a series of books in various genres, detailed a galaxy of remembrances that have largely revolved around his relationship with his father. Their tempestuous relationship provides the heat and the light for this new collection—heat generated from their years of conflict, and a light that shines on everything Martin does and has become. While this light can be unsparing (Martin doesn’t shy away from detailing his own foibles), it also provides clarity and understanding—all we can hope for in an essay collection.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“In vivid and lyrical prose, [Martin] explores the relationship between childhood and the adult self. What is the connection between a first kiss and the adult demands of marriage? Between that first sensual awakening to language and the language of responsibility and commitment? Childless himself, Martin’s quest to unite his past and present forces him to confront the fundamental issues of mortality and meaning with the largeness of his big, easily broken, but irrepressible Midwestern heart.”
—Sue William Silverman, author of Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir
“Rich with empathy, wisdom, and wry humor, each essay in this remarkable book rewards the reader with exquisitely captured detail and brilliant characterization. In Such a Life, Pulitzer Prize finalist Lee Martin proves once again that he is the consummate storyteller, no matter where he puts his talents. An extraordinary, unforgettable book.”
—Dinty W. Moore, author of Between Panic and Desire
“At one point in Lee Martin’s contemplative memoir, the narrator muses: ‘I shake my head over all the things we can’t say, all the secrets we carry around, all of us swollen with worry.… I’ve had to write this [book] to claim the whole, weighty truth of myself.’ Throughout his tale, Martin does indeed articulate weighty truths, but he does so with such clarity that he reflects this truth-seeking light back on the reader. We find ourselves shaking our heads, mulling over our own secrets, and looking to Martin to help us find the language to speak them.”
—Brenda Miller, author of Season of the Body and Blessing of the Animals
Break the Skin
“I was worried for these characters as I’d worry for my own friends. The women want normal things—connection, stability—but get in their own way of finding peaceful lives. I love reading about characters in Illinois, a place not often depicted in fiction. This is a suspenseful, engaging book.”
—Alice Elliott Dark, author of Think of England and In the Gloaming
“Young and lovesick, Lee Martin’s low-rent heroines live the stuff of country music. Earnest and innocent, they get caught up in trailerpark romances and what Alice Hoffman called practical magic. Break the Skin is a gossipy, rollicking Witches of Wal-Mart.”
—Stewart O’Nan, author of Emily, Alone and The Speed Queen
“Mr. Martin is a top-notch craftsman…what is most remarkable about Break the Skin is its restrained tone and the author’s generosity toward his very needy characters. His sympathies for them rarely seem to wane, even when they are harboring criminals, conjuring hexes, or plotting murder.”
—The New York Times
“South of Scandinavia, there are fewer icicles and serial killers, but no lack of sinister intrigue. Pulitzer Prize finalist Lee Martin’s latest, Break the Skin, is a Lucinda Williams ballad of a small-town love af-fair—a teenage dropout, a nameless stranger—gone horribly wrong.”
—Vogue.com
“Small town, big secrets; we’re in Lee Martin territory. Martin…gets the claustrophobia of small-town life just right. With their oh-what-might-have-been voices, these women win our hearts.”
—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Disaffected teenager Laney has no one in the world but the older Delilah, whom she clings to like a raft. Then the police start asking Laney questions that link her to the sadder-but-wiser Miss Baby, who thinks she’s finally found true love with a gentle man who can’t remember his own name, and the story of a wrenching crime emerges. Martin has a following—he’s won a passel of awards (e.g., Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction), and The Bright Forever was a Pulitzer finalist—so maybe Break the Skin will break him out.”
—The Library Journal
“Martin, whose kidnap novel The Bright Forever (2005) was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in fiction, expertly applies shades of James Cain–like noir to a modern story that might have been inspired by one of the Lucinda Williams songs on this book’s soundtrack. Black magic, daughters cursed by the loss or absence of their fathers, post traumatic stress syndrome, small-town secrecy and lies, pre-teen voyeurism: Welcome to life ‘on the other side of right thinking.’ An intoxicating small-town thriller that quickly gets under your skin.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Carrying an almost archetypal resonance, this well-crafted tale of romantic desperation feels as sad and inevitable as an old murder ballad and should have an appeal beyond readers of serious fiction.”
—The Library Journal
“What we really want from our summer reading is a chance to escape ourselves, to disappear for a while into the lives of other people. Break the Skin allows us to do that, while delivering a fast, suspenseful read.”
—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“The simple poetry of his language and the generous empathy Lee Martin has toward characters he refuses to judge make Break the Skin a deeply moving and cautionary tale for us all, wherever we come from and whoever we are.”
—The Anniston Star (AL)
“There’s murder and mayhem for the reader who hungers for that, but the reason this novel succeeds as entertainment is that the author treads lightly with the plot and constructs his characters—even the secondary players—with subtle feeling.… You will be moved by Lee Martin’s writing. My guess is that you’ll want to see what else he’s written and read him again.”
—The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
River of Heaven
“Graceful, evocative.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“One part domestic novel, one part confession, and one part thriller.… This novel is about the toll living takes on our skin and our soul.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer
“If you don’t know Lee Martin, you should.… [River of Heaven] is a page-turner, both tender and tough, with real insight into how people live and breathe and love and worry.”
—Lincoln Journal Star
“Intricately plotted…Martin is an able storyteller who doesn’t need to resort to flashy verbal tricks to establish his credibility as a writer of literary fiction. In River of Heaven, he’s created an accomplished and deeply satisfying work.”
—Bookpage
“Martin crafts eloquent sentences.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Lee Martin’s portrait of Sam Brady, a man in fear of his life and crippled by it, lingers painfully and persuasively.”
—Amy Bloom, author of Away
“Sam Brady, sixty-five, has kept a secret for half a cen
tury. ‘We can’t tell,’ his brother decides for him, and Sam doesn’t, but the cost of his silence has been profound. Few writers could unfold Sam’s history with the grace and compassion of Lee Martin. River of Heaven is an unusual novel, wise and humane, a story of cowardice and courage and the tortuous passage between them.”
—Kathryn Harrison
“In River of Heaven, Lee Martin has created that rare thing: a literary page-turner. This is a story about the corrosive power of a childhood secret, and the way our lives are shaped as much by what we withhold as what we reveal. An elegantly structured, powerful and original novel, full of heart.”
—Dani Shapiro, author of Black & White
From Our House
“Martin has written a memoir to read slowly and savor.… Over the course of the memoir, Martin shows how he and his father learn to overcome their shame and control their rage. The honest and straightforward description of their relationship and their obvious affection for each other completely involve the reader. Highly recommended.”
—Library Journal
“Martin’s memoir evokes the secrecy of family violence and the isolation of growing up in a rural community.… This is a touching and honest portrayal of family life, violence, disappointment, and coming of age.”
—Booklist
“A lyrical, finely wrought memoir of grief, pain, and joy.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Wise and healing.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A moving memoir that portrays the complexities that exist in many American families—equal parts frustration, anger, yearning, and tenacious familial love.”
—USA Today
“A story of great pain, told with great dignity and remarkable forbearance.… Moves toward an ending filled with the presence of grace.”
—Charles Baxter
The Bright Forever
Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Fiction, Book Sense Pick
“Well-crafted, a cleanly written, artful…page-turner.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“A deeply traditional novel, ‘literary’ in the old-fashioned sense.… Its overall tone is as soft and giving as one of Mom’s old blankets.”
—Washington Post
“[Martin] does a good, clean job of keeping the reader in suspense, which is the lifeblood of the literary thriller he has set out to write… Martin has real talent.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Compelling…The Bright Forever is both harrowing and deeply felt.… The multiple life stories are seamlessly interwoven…the suspensefulness never dips.… [Brings] to mind Alice Sebold’s talent for writing in a literary voice without airs.”
—New York Daily News
“His prose is spare, his description efficient. Sometimes just a word can transport readers back to small-town America in the 1970s.… The Bright Forever is a modern morality play without preaching or scolding, told by characters who are neither wholly evil nor wholly innocent.”
—Columbus Dispatch
“A harrowing novel filled with lonely mistfits desperate for love, or at least tenderness.”
—The Oregonian
“Remarkably beautiful, eloquent on the subject of love, on the beauty of purple martins.… Much of the power of Martin’s novel comes from the uneasy sympathy he creates with his characters, who are all too recognizable, in their foibles and desires, as ourselves.”
—Raleigh News & Observer
“Mesmerizing.”
—Evansville Courier and Press
“[A] vividly nuanced portrayal of a small town in the heat of a troubled summer.”
—Newsweek (International Edition)
“Captivating…Martin has created an exquisite page-turner.… The Bright Forever is a masterpiece in its own right. Readers will be entranced by the story from the get-go, and held until the end by a string of unnerving suspense and quiet disbelief.”
—Kings Features
“Martin shifts back and forth in time, skillfully dropping clues, countering readers’ expectations, and building tension. Combining elements of family fiction, psychological thriller, and small-town nostalgia, this book is written in lyrical prose that will engage readers of all types.”
—Library Journal
“Rich details and raw emotion mix as Martin, in engaging the human desire to excavate the truth, underscores its complex, elusive nature.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Gripping…mesmerizing…Martin’s novel is hard to put down.”
—Booklist
“Lee Martin’s The Bright Forever goes deep into the mystery of being alive on this earth. Written in the clearest prose, working back and forth over its complex story, and told in the dark, desperate, vivid voices of its various speakers, it holds you spellbound to the end, to its final, sad revelations.”
—Kent Haruf, author of Eventide and Plainsong
“I read Lee Martin’s The Bright Forever in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down. Part Mystic River, part Winesburg, Ohio, this harrowing and beautiful book is one of the most powerful novels I’ve read in years, and heralds the breakout of a remarkable talent.”
—Bret Lott, author of Jewel and A Song I Knew by Heart
“Like Winesburg, Ohio, The Bright Forever captures, in alternating voices, the individual acts of desperation that lead to a community’s sorrow. And, like Sherwood Anderson, Lee Martin is not happy to let guilt reside singularly or simply. This is a morally complex quilt, a page-turner that also insists on the reader’s participation in moral contemplation.”
—Antonya Nelson, author of Female Trouble and Talking in Bed
“With what consummate skill Lee Martin conjures up a small town in the grip of tragedy and how deftly he explores the way in which a casual remark, a brief kiss, a white lie can have the most terrible consequences. The Bright Forever is a remarkable and almost unbearably suspenseful novel.”
—Margot Livesey, author of Banishing Verona and Eva Moves the Furniture
“The Bright Forever is ravishing.… Lee Martin’s characters, dear readers, are us—riven and bedeviled, our souls gone grainy and rank, our hearts busted and beating heavily for love. We have Lee Martin to thank for having the moral courage—yes, an old-fashioned but rare virtue—to tell it to us plain.”
—Lee K. Abbott, author of Living After Midnight
“The Bright Forever will get under your skin with its exquisite psychology and fine-tuned suspense. Lee Martin has created a world of aching beauty and terrible loss.”
—Jean Thompson, author City Boy and Wide Blue Yonder
Turning Bones
“[A] lyrical, imaginative work.… [T]his ambitious work weaves together many strong, intriguing people, brought together by a skillful writer for a family reunion across time.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Like the celebrants in Madagascar who practice the ‘turning of bones’ ritual—dancing with their ancestors’ corpses—Lee Martin unearths his ancestors’ stories and places them alongside his own, creating a dance of power and grace. Turning Bones is a skillful blending of lyrical prose, painstaking research, and well-wrought fiction that calls up the dead and wakes us, the living, into a freshly imagined world.”
—Rebecca McClanahan, author of The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings
“A beautiful intertwining of memoir and personal historical fiction. In a thoughtful, contemplative way, Martin works like his own private detective to make sense of his family and his place in the larger world.”
—Mary Swander, author of Out of This World: A Journey of Healing
“A moving family history and cultural excavation.”
—The Virginia Quarterly Review
“Lee Martin animates his family tree with a variety and vibrancy of stunning prose engines. Rarely are story and history so effortlessly and enjoyably entwined. Rarer still is this hybrid fruit of the said intersection. Turning Bones is a miraculous and many-splendored invent
ion.”
—Michael Martone, author of The Blue Guide to Indiana
“Turning Bones epitomizes creative nonfiction at its best, fusing the deep, seasonal rhythms of lyric poetry and a believable story which, like a great novel, brings wisdom and tears.”
—Jonathan Holden, author of Guns and Boyhood in America: A Memoir of Growing Up in the 50s
“Martin brings his forebears to life with affection and empathy, brilliantly interweaving their stories with his own, and leaving us with a greater appreciation that our lives are but a series of intersecting tales, ones that, with luck, we add to and continue to tell.”
—Kathleen Finneran, author of The Tender Land: A Family Love Story
“Turning Bones is part memoir, part epic, and part historical fiction. Lee Martin weaves creative technique, research, and personal essay together beautifully, shedding light on history and teaching the reader something new about not only America’s maturation, but about modern life as well.… It’s a book like this that makes you realize you’ve come from somewhere real and tangible, and that those places and people are a part of you and will be a part of many generations to come.”
—J. Albin Larson, Mid-American Review
“Through white space, Martin guides readers through his tale of his family’s past, as well as his own, in a captivating tale of love, heartbreak, and redemption.”
—Ashlee Clark, Ohioana Quarterly
Quakertown
“A consistently impressive and often dazzling new novel. Lee Martin has written one of the best books of the year.”
—The Washington Post
“Exceptional. Martin has done just about everything right. His writing is both lyrical and precise. His plotting is razor-sharp, unpredictable, and calculated for maximum suspense. His characters are vividly alive. Quakertown is an important addition to the literature of black America, and to that of Texas in the twentieth century.”
—Fort Worth Star Telegram
“[Martin] can take your breath away.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Lee Martin’s brilliant first novel… Quakertown deserves a wide audience.”
—Portland Oregonian
The Least You Need to Know
