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| Praise for Mary...
“Never one to shy away from the messy and bleak, Morris unflinchingly illuminates the bitter existence of neglected children and their inspiring resilience, once again proving herself a storyteller of great compassion, insight, and depth.” —Publishers Weekly “The
Lost Mother paints a nuanced portrait of small-town life
. . . Morris’s
characters are finely drawn, her dialogue rings true,
and the epic sweep of her storytelling draws apt comparison
to Dickens
and Steinbeck.” “An
absorbing and wonderful book.” “A vivid portrait of an underreported world.” “Morris tells a sad story and works into it slowly, capturing
the feel of a hopeless time.” “A
perfectly lovely book about perfectly awful things . . .
The Lost Mother is the quietest, subtlest novel that ever
kept me up into the small hours of the night, unable to look away.” “Character-driven stories of such excellence are all too rare.
The characters of The Lost Mother will stay in readers’ minds
for a long time.” “The Lost Mother blends good fiction with real history, capturing
the desolation of rural poverty in Depression-era America.”
"Mary McGarry Morris is adept at creating characters we want to follow, even if their paths do take them to crime and jail. [A Hole in the Universe] is a compelling and poignant read about a man who doesn't believe he can start his life over, and the people around him who are determined to help him take the first steps."
“Propels
the reader along so swiftly, the novel can be devoured in
one sitting… A fascinating portrait of a woman whose
instinctive sense of a mystery about herself leads her to
uncover that secret at all costs.” “While
Morris’ earlier work has often been compared to Steinbeck
and McCullers, here she seems unmistakably under the spell
of the Bronte sisters… Morris grounds her storytelling
with compelling characterizations and masterful plotting.” “Utterly
engrossing… Fiona teeters in the brink of social ostracism,
and Morris brings her to life in a tour de force of dialogue
and detail… Morris is in complete charge of her hardscrabble
literary territory—ragged psyches, busted-up lives—and
Fiona is without question her most complicated, compelling
character to date.” “She
can bring the ordinary to life with the sheer clarity of
vision. She knows how a house with children in it sounds
at night, what the heat and bustle in a kitchen feel like
before a family dinner and how indiscretions arise in a dining
room when everyone is flushed with wine.” “Morris
has expertly mirrored how most people regard their families,
feeling affectionate and warm one minute, cold and judgmental
the next. The resilience Morris gives Fiona’s family
is understated, familiar and extremely realistic… What’s
more, Fiona Range is just plain entertaining.” "As
readable as its heroine is compulsive, this is the kind of
book that makes you stay up half the night and (like its
heroine) hate yourself in the morning."
“An
extraordinary novel… A deeply satisfying story… There
is grace and poetry in Morris’s prose.” “Songs
in Ordinary Time is real life crusing small-town
USA with the top down and the volume up. In her graphic,
stilleto chapters, Mary McGarry Morris is a cross between
Elizabeth Gaskell and David Lynch.” “Morris’s
powers of observation create a depth that makes the characters’ dilemmas
seem as real as the reader’s own. The book is alternately
touching and sinister, but it resonates with authenticity.” “Songs
in Ordinary Time is deep and thick as a long, hot
summer, a fully realized world… wrought with fearless
detail…the narrative of a town reminiscent of the
collective ache of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.” "Morris
seems merely to have been sharpening her skills when she
wrote Vanished…and A Dangerous Woman.
Now she has brought all her gifts to bear on Songs
of Ordinary Time….The flowing sentences and
scenes make every page worth reading."
“Powerfully
and dangerously written… Indelible and compelling.” “A
cunningly paced novel that frequently catches the reader
on the wrong foot with its subtle twists and turns.” “Morris
writes with unwavering clarity and compassion… A
vivid, moving portrait.” “A
powerful book distinguished by clear prose and a painful,
emotional intensity… Morris is a master at depicting
the psychic violence we commit in the name of love.” "Original
and beautifully written…Somehow, the author has managed
to inhabit Martha so completely and bring her to life on
the page so vividly that we lose our own sense of how 'different'
she is. I'd call this a heartbreaking novel, except there's
a certain triumph in it, so I'll just say that it's a wonderful
novel, and that it will absolutely transport you." "Brilliantly
acute…Remarkable…Morris' magnanimous ability
to portray her characters with so much tenderness and cruelty
may be her novel's finest strength."
"A “Astonishing… Morris’s
book should be judged on its own merits, and against the
work of our most highly practiced and accomplished novelists.” “An
impressive debut… a work that is unusual and rich.” “It
is your worst dream come true, the childhood nightmare of
being abandoned and lost amid the senseless, random violence
of the world… Ms. Morris is a writer to reckon with.”
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“Morris’s
nearly flawless prose is mesmerizing.” 
"Welcome to the world of Mary McGarry Morris—and what a world it is. Richly atmospheric, bristling with dialogue, so tightened with suspense it threatens to snap. Morris is a master at sympathetic portraits of those clinging to the peripheries of society. And nowhere is her talent more evident than in her extraordinary new novel, A Hole in the Universe.
“Morris
is a master storyteller, an acute observer of small-town
America and of people who struggle, sometimes in vain, to
have lives that amount to more than hard work and a cold
bed… Fiona Range, the novel, is a wealth of
passion and heartbreak.” 
“A
gritty, beautifully crafted novel rich in wisdom and suspense… Secures
Morris’s status as one of our finest American writers.” 
“At
once deeply thrilling and deeply affecting… should
burnish Ms. Morris’s reputation as one of the most
skillful new writers at work in America today.”
dazzling
first novel… Events are presented with such authority
that they hum with both the authenticity of real life and
the mythic power of fable.”