Critical Praise

"She writes with the staccato authority of an Uzi.... She wastes no words, thrusting scene upon scene into your face. "

——Men's Journal

"Wiggins is a writer of substantial gifts....Passion develops through hidden chains of causality, so we never know exactly where or when it's going to strike....Almost Heaven bristles with meteorological imagery -- from heat waves to hailstorms to torrential rain -- all of it related to the emotional lives of her characters. "

——The New York Times Book Review

"Wiggins is one of those critically acclaimed authors whose books acquire passionate followings...[like] other southern writers who find passion to be a source of both salvation and gothic nightmare. "

——Booklist

"Wiggins writes stunningly polished prose that is both quirky and urgent, letting slip clues to both Holden's and Melanie's situations as the plot builds with a roar to the final blowout. "

——Library Journal

"A real tour de force on the immensity of human loss. "

——Library Journal

"Marianne Wiggins dares to make fictions that stand in the face of heart-cracking circumstance, fictions that, in fact, resound with hearts shattering. "

——The Washington Post Book World

"Wiggins writes with a feverish brilliance...close to prophetic brilliance. "

——Los Angeles Times Book Review