Critical Praise

"Character, plot, motive, and setting are a novelist’s weapons, the better to capture a reader’s imagination, and Smith wields them with great proficiency. . . . A Citizen of the Country illuminates a society on the brink, a way of life about to be lost forever . . . and one man’s journey, by the hardest roads he could find, home to his family."

——Detroit Free Press

"An atmospheric tale full of detail and unexpected twists . . . [that] unfolds with careful deliberation. It is rich in characters, relationships, and subplots."

——The Denver Post

"A master’s touch . . . Delicious fun . . . Think Poe, Agatha Christie, A Tale of Two Cities, and Chinatown, and you have an idea of the mix that Smith balances so delicately–so well."

——The New York Post

"A remarkably clever conclusion to Smith’s brilliant evocations of early twentieth-century France. . . . The plot is original, authentic, and engaging– combining warlike stirrings and the personal resurrection of the major characters in The Vanished Child and The Knowledge of Water."

——AMANDA CROSS