Critical Praise

"Beautifully written . . . fully imagined . . . Few fist novels are narrated with the clarity, economy, and masterful assurance Tilghman brigs to this remarkably moving and persuasive tale. "

——Entertainment Weekly

"Rich with character and sweet with scent of a Maryland farm in America's mid-century summer . . . The moral center of this novel is larger than all its sorrows, which have about them the inevitable arc of a star falling from a darkening sky. "

——The Boston Sunday Globe

" Powerful . . . a work of surpassing thematic seriousness and fictive artistry. In all respects, Mason's Retreat is exemplary." "

——Johnathan Yardley The Washington Post Book World

"Stately, absorbing . . . Mr. Tilghman's book, so rooted in the idea of coming home, makes one realize all over again that here on Earth there is no such place. "

——Thomas Mallon The New York Times Book Review

"Rich . . . unforgettably rendered . . . The pieces in Tilghman's kaleidoscope . . . are sharp, faceted, and gleaming . . . Scene after scene has a magical rightness. "

——The Los Angeles Times Book Review