Description
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the National Book Award for Fiction: Astonishing prose brings to life a forgotten woman and a lost world in a strange and bittersweet Southern pastoral.
Trade Review"[The] complexity and drama of Watson’s gorgeous work here is life's as well: Sometimes physical realities expand us, sometimes trap; sometimes heroism lies in combating our helplessness, sometimes in accepting it. A writer of profound emotional depths, Watson does not lie to his reader, so neither does his Jane. She never stops longing for a wholeness she may never know, but she is determined that her citizenship in the world, however onerous, be dragged into the light and there be lived without apology or perfection or pity." -- Amy Grace Loyd - New York Times Book Review
"Watson infuses the story with curiosity, uncertainty, and, not unlike Jeffrey Eugenides’s
Middlesex, a certain wildness…The book plays on the tongue like an oyster—first salty, then cold—before slipping away to be consumed and digested." -- Aditi Sriram - Washington Post
"One of the most spot-on, most poetic renderings of Southern vernacular this side of Charles Portis. In his hands,
Miss Jane becomes an epic of a small survivor. As with fellow Mississippian William Faulkner, Watson's humble characters prevail because they endure." -- Ben Steelman - Star News
"Jane's strange yet beautiful spirit possesses a haunting, anachronistic beauty.
Miss Jane is a truly original novel with a character that readers will cherish. Watson has delivered a striking and unforgettable portrait." -- Book Page
"A story worth telling even as it breaks your heart." -- Amy Brady - Chicago Review of Books
"[Jane’s] fearless acceptance of what sets her apart is profoundly human, and her lifelong struggle to understand her place in the world reflects the intricate workings of our own mysterious hearts." -- Gina Webb - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Watson has done something extraordinary here. This is not grit-lit...But it is Southern literature, nevertheless: fresh, new, without cliché. Watson may be our best." -- Don Noble - Alabama Writers' Forum
"An exceptionally well written book. The prose was beautiful and the novel had a gentleness about it...I loved this book for its simplicity and would highly recommend it." -- Meredith Kelly - Luxury Reading
"As Watson arcs through the story of Jane’s life in sensitive, beautifully precise prose, we are both absorbed and humbled." -- Library Journal (starred)
"A well-written portrait of a person whose rich inner life outstrips the limits of her body." -- Kirkus Reviews
