Boy from the North Country

“This portrait of a young man caring for his mother is a rare combination of boldface intrigue and profound emotion.” —Oprah Daily, The Best Fall Books of 2025

“Boy From the North Country is as much fable as it is autobiography. . . . A tale of the uncanny, of the public figure hidden inside a private life, of fame woven into a family romance.” —Tablet, Required Reading

“Heart-wrenching . . . Evan may never know if he’s really [Bob Dylan’s] son, but it’s clear from this lovely novel that the question grows increasingly irrelevant as he grapples with the inevitable loss of his beloved mother.” —AARP

“A man convinced he could be Bob Dylan’s son returns home to care for his ailing mother in Sussman’s gorgeous autobiographical debut. At the novel’s heart, though, is Sussman’s intense portrait of a mother and son’s emotional bond. It’s a stunner.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[Sussman] magicks this material into a gorgeous, emotionally thrilling first-person novel . . . The love that swells beneath this scene, and every scene, will just about knock you over . . . Come for the riveting father-son mystery, stay for the most beautiful and moving mother-son story in recent memory.” —Kirkus (starred review)

“A stunning piece of autofiction that is not to be missed . . . Lyrical, compelling . . . While the details about Dylan and the question of Evan’s parentage are compelling, ultimately, it’s his relationship with his fiercely strong, loving and protective mother that takes center stage. Sussman (writes) with exceptional maturity about his overwhelming love and grief, as well as his emotional inheritance . . . Boy From the North Country is an unforgettable tribute that would have made Fran Sussman shine with pride for the creative soul she raised.” —Bookpage (starred review)

“Sussman’s searingly tender debut novel . . . will be required reading for Dylanologists eager to see yet another side of their idol, but the heart of the story is the ferocious bond between a mother and son.” —Library Journal

“It will be easy to pitch this book as a ‘Bob Dylan novel’ – and it is that, but it’s so much more. It’s an intimate and stirring novel about a boy’s relationship with his parents, filled with heart. Sussman asks, Does it matter if biological parents who haven’t been around matter? And, if they do matter, how does one confront the desire to bring them into their life as an adult?” —Debutiful

“Sam Sussman is a courageous, honest, compassionate, generous writer, and Boy from the North Country is a remarkable novel. It’s a penetratingly observed exploration of loss and grief, healing and mortality, theology, philosophy, and above all, art—of art as origin and salvation, art as community, seduction, fame, power, holiness. Its language is unguardedly personal, at times uncomfortably intimate, accumulating over and over into moments of stunning poetic force, revelatory insight, heartbreak and wisdom.” —Tony Kushner, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angels in America

“This novel has a haunting story to tell, and it tells it beautifully. It was a pleasure to read.” —Vivian Gornick, author of Fierce Attachments

“A loving ode to an extraordinary mother; a soulful coming of age; an unlikely portrait of Dylan in his prime as fresh as they come. Sam Sussman’s Boy from the North Country heralds the arrival of a blazing new literary talent.” — Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Homeland Elegies and Disgraced

“Boy from the North Country is a debut novel of rare power, a page-turning story of a son learning to return to his mother’s transformative love. Tragic and redemptive, poetic and provocative, this novel held me breathless at every turn. Sussman is a writer of many gifts.” —Maria Semple, author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette and Today Will Be Different

“Boy from the North Country reveals Bob Dylan at his most alive and inspired, as you have never seen him before. This book is a monumental event for anyone who cares about Dylan. More meaningfully, the book transforms into an emotionally moving story of what it means to love a mother and be a son. Sussman has written one of the Great Millennial Novels and proved himself an inheritor of Dylan’s lyrical tradition.” —David Yaffe, author of Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown

“A dazzling book that promises everything and delivers more. Boy from the North Country is a beautifully written, emotionally nuanced portrait of a woman in all her complexity and courage.” —Aminatta Forna, author of The Devil That Danced on the Water