Critical Praise

"A tender love story set against an intriguing bit of history is handled with uncommon skill . . . Michaels is especially impressive at making a rundown of construction materials or the contents of a market as evocative as the shared moments between two young lovers . . . An exquisite second novel."

—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"A deeply felt novel of ideas that explores loss, displacement, human connection and the ‘one or two organizing principles’ that inform an individual life . . . Michaels brings lost worlds to life [in] painfully beautiful prose."

—Kirkus Reviews

"Has it been worth the wait [sinceFugitive Pieces]? It has . . . Anne Michaels, in short, is back . . . Think of The Arabian Nights, or the Odyssey, where characters incessantly tell stories about themselves and others; these are texts that carry whole cultures within themselves, and Michaels achieves something similar here . . . This is a book that proposes great themes: a critique of progress, an exploration of the nature of human suffering, an interrogation of the relationship between past and present. And yet, for all of that, it remains at bottom a deeply affecting love story . . . Beautifully written."

—Steven Hayward, Globe and Mail