Rabbit Cake

“[A] treasure. Books about grief are rarely funny and adorable—this one is.”—People Magazine

“A brilliant book . . . How a whip-smart young girl handles the loss of her mother and the reorientation of her family; charming and beautifully written.” —Kirkus, Starred Review

“In Hartnett’s winning debut, a memorable young narrator’s desire for rationality wrestles with her grief. . . . Affecting.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“For your canon-coming-of-age-novel consideration: Meet Elvis Babbitt. A preteen whose mother recently drowned, Elvis is trying to understand the world around her. Funny and heartfelt, Rabbit Cake manages adult questions with a tween’s sense of wonder.” —Marie Claire

“This is a truly terrific and original novel about grief, family, and finding hope in the aftermath.” —Booklist

“Darkly funny and soulful . . . Hartnett imbues Elvis with that capacity to be both self-aware and childlike that places her in a tradition of independent minded, motherless heroines — from Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, to the eponymous Ellen Foster, and Ruth from Housekeeping. . . . Rabbit Cake is Elvis’s unpredictable story of healing, and the young woman at its center is immediately lovable because she is delightfully human.” —The Boston Globe

“Hartnett tells the story with immeasurable heart, wit, and charm. The book’s got perfect pitch from open to close.”—The Chicago Review of Books, Best Books of the Year

“Irresistible…[the book is] both gentle exploration of loss (Elvis’s mother, in the opening pages, has drowned) and quirkily funny coming-of-age tale, marking its Rhode Island-based author as a talent to watch.” —The Seattle Times

“Elvis should be in contention for best narrator of the year; her voice feels like a mix of Scout Finch and Harriet the Spy, pushed to the edge by loneliness.”—Minnesota Public Radio, #1 Fiction Pick of the Year

“This is the kind of book I try to resist as a noted curmudgeon, but with not a smidge more sentiment than needed, Rabbit Cake is an instant classic that you could confidently give as a gift to any reader.” —Jeff Vandermeer

“In my mind, it’s damn near impossible to overstate the joys, the subtlety, and the brilliance of Rabbit Cake. “—Gabriel Tallent, New York Times bestselling author of MY ABSOLUTE DARLING

Hartnett has written a quirky, slightly magical coming-of-age story that will have your heart. She is a writer to watch. —Heidi Durrow, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

“Heartbreak and dark comedy fuse together in this endearing story of family dysfunction and loss. I cheered for young Elvis Babbitt and the entire cast of quirky characters as they stumbled along a twisted path toward healing.”—Beth Hoffman, New York Times bestselling author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt and Looking for Me

“Annie Hartnett’s Rabbit Cake is fantastically original, a story about loss that expands in such exciting, unpredictable ways that I found myself completely won over by the unique Babbitt clan. Hartnett has such a gift for absurdity without ever losing the essential heart of the story. With this novel, she’s become one of my favorite writers.”—Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of The Family Fang

“What makes this book shine is that [Elvis] is both completely believable as a child [and] a compelling narrator. The reader feels her grief, her curious hunger for the world, and also her disbelief that a world so abundant in wonder could take her mother away.”—Book Riot, Best Book of the Year

“12-year-old Elvis is a captivating character and the fantastically absorbing narrator of this stunning debut novel.”—Read It Forward

“Readers will laugh and cry in turn at this touching novel about a little girl with a big heart.” —Bookish, Best Books of Spring

“Fun emanates from virtually every element of [Rabbit Cake‘s] craft—its particular narratorial voice, crackling dialogue, vibrant cast of characters, vivid and unexpected imagery, absurdist moments, and plot that bounces along like its titular animal but still finds room for quiet contemplation. “—Redivider

“Darkly funny and endlessly smart, Rabbit Cake chases down the quivering heart of familial loss and reminds us there is no right way to grieve. There’s only showing up for it, and showing up for each other. “—Ploughshares