Critical Praise

"One of America's gutsiest writers … a polyglot with an astonishing ear for how people really talk in places we hardly remember they are living."

——The Baltimore Sun

"Her gallery of misfits reminds one of Flannery O'Connor's–but with a dash of sympathy and human goodness.

——The Washington Post Book World

"An eye-opener of a novel, a road map to the real California. Straight turns headlines into poetry.

——The New York Times Book Review

"Packed with the kind of detail about people, places and emotions that transport the reader to a different world.

——San Francisco Chronicle