The Hare

“The twists and turns of the novel keep you on the roller coaster of a thriller, but ultimately this is a character study of a deeply complicated woman who inches her way toward setting herself free… I was moved and changed by Rose’s journey to self acceptance and empowerment. I found myself reconsidering some of the unconscious biases that get baked into all of us about femaleness and standards of living. But mostly, I fell in love with Rosie and I rooted for her, believed in her, and hoped desperately that she would find her way to a peaceful and fulfilling life.”
—Jennifer Morrison, A3C Reads

“[An] involving, morally complex novel… Rosie is a difficult character, full of anger, generosity and self-doubt, and her muddle is the stuff of true tragedy.”
—Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

“[The Hare] shimmers with a stark loveliness… Finn is unafraid to address big moral questions—what D. H. Lawrence might write, if he lived in a world of Brett Kavanaugh hearings, cars with crushing repair bills and secret child pornography websites.”
—Lisa Zeidner, The Washington Post

“In this brooding feminist thriller, a former art student and her daughter are isolated in a rural Vermont cabin and have to contend with the toxic presence of an unbalanced con man in their lives.”
—New York Times

“This is a page-turner about a tough woman and her con-artist lout of a partner, and I will eat my laptop if it doesn’t get optioned for TV or film the minute it hits bookshelves. It is also woven through with ideas about feminism, parenting, narcissism, and self-sufficiency—a book that is easy to read without being remotely lightweight.”
—Molly Young, Vulture

“A sharp portrait of a woman doing what she needs to do… Finn deftly shows how abuse echoes on in a person’s life, changing tone, growing louder and softer, and reverberating into the future. The book knives into questions of power, of resolve, of seduction, of survival.”
—Nina MacLaughlin, The Boston Globe

“Art student Rosie is so dazzled by Bennett that she doesn’t realize the extent of his cons—until he leaves her destitute in the wilderness of Vermont. There she survives with the help of a neighbor who sticks by her, even when the worst comes. A slow-boil thriller about perseverance and the power of friendship.”
—Wendy Naugle, People Magazine

“Masculinity is toxic, decisions are poor and the class divide is deep in Melanie Finn’s provocative fourth novel, The Hare, a harrowing thriller about survival and self-discovery… Finn addresses a panoply of social concerns while presenting questions of fate and fortune.”
—Marci Schmitt, Star Tribune

“As angry and unflinching as it is tender, Melanie Finn’s The Hare is the tale of trapped womanhood—and all the violence and desperation that goes into escaping it. Protagonist Rosie trails her lover, the wealthy con man Bennett, to Vermont, only for his betrayal to leave her vulnerable and alone. Hardened by poverty and freezing winters, she grows into a wise but bitter woman slowly inching toward something like freedom.”
—Lauren Puckett, Elle