Long Man

A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

“Searing. . . . [A] poetic literary thriller. . . . An engrossing blend of raw tension and gorgeous reflection.” —The Washington Post

“Powerful. . . . Aching, passionate, and vivid.” —Daniel Woodrell, The New York Times Book Review

“Swift, gorgeous and wickedly smart, Long Man is nearly perfect. . . . As compulsively readable as it is intellectually profound. . . . Greene is a major American novelist in waiting.”–Minneapolis Star Tribune, Critics’ Pick

“Luminous. . . . In language as unadorned and lovely as a country quilt, Greene invites the reader deeply into the seclusion of the valley and the mountains above. A remarkable love letter to a forgotten time and place.” —The Atlanta Constitution
 
“This book gives me hope for the future of the literary novel. . . . A virtually perfect blend of lyrical writing and page-turning plot. . . . Beautiful.” —Karen Sandstrom, The Plain Dealer

“A story that forces us to examine our relationship with nature, our understanding of community and, significantly, of social class. . . . [Greene] lends this Depression-era story a moral and ethical vibrancy that we should all pay attention to.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“A tense tale of the sacrifices people make in the name of progress.” —New York Post

“Exquisite . . . Greene’s prose is as mesmerizing as the story she weaves. Read­ers will never forget this vividly drawn landscape. . . . [The novel’s] breathtaking suspense and images will haunt me forever.” —Jill McCorkle, author of Life After Life

“Like Greene’s debut, Bloodroot, the prevailing tone of Long Man is solemn, elegiac. . . . Greene allows the back stories of this small but rich cast of characters to overlap in places, like thin pleats in a skirt.” —The Toronto Star

“Greene even-handedly renders this lost and mostly forgotten world to perfection.” —The Free Lance-Star

“Rich and absorbing. Equal parts mystery, family saga, and backwoods romance, Long Man captures the collision of hardscrabble folk with the unstoppable modern world.” —Stewart O’Nan, author of A Prayer for the Dying and Emily, Alone 

“Long Man reads like a painting—the kind that unravels from a scroll, with a landscape that moves through space and time. . . . Greene, born and raised in East Tennessee, evokes [beauty] with the simplest strokes.” —The Greenville News

“Vibrant. . . . The novel grapples with real questions about our relationship to nature and the price of progress, even as it delivers a story as touching and timeless as a folk tale.” —Nashville Scene

 “One of the best young chroniclers of contemporary Appalachia. . . . Long Man dramatizes historical events that are still controversial today and raises issues that will resonate strongly.” —Mountain Xpress 

“A gem. . . . Long Man is so palpably real that I feel I’ve spent the last few days actually living in Greene’s corner of Depression-era Tennessee. It is a special book—a beautiful piece of work.” —Steve Yarbrough, author of Prisoners of War and The Realm of Last Chances