Description
Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
"A magnificent debut filled with characters so vivid, strange, and richly imagined, you emerge feeling changed." —Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
Trade Review"Enthralling...
Sweet Relief is that rare book: a page-turner in which the plot is secondary to the brilliant, visceral portrayal of its characters. We don’t empathize with them—we slip into their skins, experiencing their frustrations as if they were our own." -- Karen Holt - O Magazine
"[A] fleet, brave, emotionally luminous new novel." -- Salvatore Scibona - The New Yorker
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The Sweet Relief of Missing Children should leapfrog to the top of your to-read pile." -- Brock Clarke - Boston Globe
"A complex and multifaceted study of children who conquer bad childhoods—and children who cannot... Braunstein paints gorgeous portraits of a large variety of characters, all fully realized." -- Library Journal
"[Braunstein’s] debut novel is an unsettling read that is also strangely compelling... Through random encounters and elliptical dialogue, Braunstein locates the pain in these people’s lives and makes it shimmer" -- Booklist
"An unflinching probe into the frailty of children’s dreams and desires... Braunstein writes a haunting story, one whose characters remain vividly fixed in memory after the last page is turned... [A] brave and daring book... [A] highly original and superb work of fiction." -- Frank O. Smith - Portland Press Herald
"I admire Braunstein’s compassion for her characters... As the novel progresses, the characters encounter one another in surprising ways, and their separate stories come together like pieces of broken glass from an object that can never be reconstructed." -- Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of The Waters
"Sarah Braunstein has written a startling and darkly beautiful first novel. Her characters are so vivid, so perfectly drawn, that I doubt you will ever forget them. Braunstein’s talent is enormous." -- Danielle Trussoni, author of Angelology
