Tiffany Quay Tyson's writing has been compared to Southern fiction titans like Flannery O'Connor and her first book, Three Rivers (Thomas Dunne, 2015), was a finalist for the Mississippi Institute for Arts and Letters Award for Fiction and also the Colorado Book Award for Literary Fiction. Though she grew up in Mississippi, she now resides in Denver, CO., where she teaches writing at the renowned Lighthouse Writers Workshop.
WINNER of the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction
WINNER of the Mississippi Author Award for Adult Fiction selected
by the Mississippi Library Association
WINNER of the 2019 Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters
Award for Fiction?
WINNER of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize ?for Fiction
Finalist for the 2019 Colorado Book Awards for Literary Fiction
“Haunting and beautiful, steeped in history and myth, The Past is
Never unwinds the darkest knots of what binds families together and
reveals the marvels and monsters which lie within us all. In lucid,
piercing prose, Tiffany Quay Tyson pushes to the raw edge of life,
where the real and the unreal almost touch. This is great southern
fiction.” —Kent Wascom, award-winning author of The Blood of Heaven
and Secessia
“You hold in your hands Stranger Things but with a satisfying
ending. In the sort of cleanly tuned prose that makes another
fiction writer happy, Tyson penetrates your imagination with
characters and places so real they feel like your own suppressed
memories. I'll never look at the Everglades the same way again.”
—Carrie La Seur, award-winning author of The Home Place
"The Past Is Never, with its nod to Faulkner, is steeped in local
lore, mingling history and the mystery of a missing child into a
heart-wrenching ride all the way to redemption. Tiffany Quay Tyson
weaves a gripping tale in this stellar novel, taking readers from a
haunted quarry in a Mississippi town to the menacing, gorgeous
Florida Everglades. She is a masterful storyteller whose grand
leaps of imagination, memorable characters and lyrical language
delight the reader. The Past Is Never is an important addition to
contemporary southern fiction." —Mindy Friddle, author
of The Guardian Angel and Secret Keepers and fiction
judge for the Willie Morris award
“Wise, disturbing, and quietly powerful, The Past Is Never is an
American novel for our time. With rare and unflinching honesty,
Tyson shows us the darkness, then reaches into it and extracts
light. The discovery is breathtaking.” —Margo Catts, author of
Among the Lesser Gods
“Tiffany Quay Tyson has written a gripping novel steeped in the
Southern gothic tradition, with a compelling mix of contemporary
grit. Dark as the quarry that spooks a Mississippi town and twisty
as the Florida mangrove tunnels traversed in search of answers to
unraveling family mysteries, The Past is Never had me turning pages
long into the night.” —Kelly J. Ford, author of Cottonmouths
“Tyson writes characters so distinct you'll swear you can hear
their footsteps outside your reading room, and does so in prose so
elegant you have to remember to breathe. The Past Is Never is a
beautiful, moving, brilliant novel.” —Benjamin Whitmer, author of
Cry Father and Pike
“Creatures, real and imagined, fact and fable, inhabit Tiffany Quay
Tyson’s South, a place stranger than life and all too real. The
Past Is Never will alter your vision, make you see anew things you
thought you already knew. It’s a flash of lightning in a summer
storm.” —William Haywood Henderson, author of Augusta Locke
“A sumptuously written novel.” —Theresa Alan, New York
Times bestselling author
“Tyson offers an intriguing exploration of family and identity
alongside the complexities and emotions of life's haunting
regrets.” —Booklist
“An ode to William Faulkner. . . . As Southern as it gets.” —Deep
South Magazine
“Mesmerizing Southern Gothic. . . . The author's skillful
storytelling reaches a high mark with this novel. Nothing is as it
first appears in this dark, complex story that draws upon inner
strength, extended family ties and personal determination. As with
her first novel, Tyson has an award winner on her hands.” —The
Clarion-Ledger
“Haunting, mysterious, and at times very disturbing, The Past is
Never is an extraordinary example of Southern Gothic literature . .
. one that is certain to keep you up long into the night.” —The
Literary South
“Tyson's rich prose turns the Everglades into another world,
distinct from Mississippi but just as mysterious.” —The Florida
Book Review
“A notable contribution to Southern gothic fiction. . . . Tyson's
stylistic writing and unique voice bring the reader into the heart
of the Mississippi Delta and create an eerie atmosphere similar to
that of William Faulkner's Sanctuary and William Gay's Twilight.”
—New Orleans Review of Books
“Flannery O’Connor fans will enjoy The Past is Never by Tiffany
Quay Tyson, a satisfying addition to contemporary Southern Gothic
fiction.” —The Augusta Chronicle
“Tyson has proven to be a forerunner in the Southern Gothic
literary tradition, and a standout in her generation of
contemporary southern fiction writers.” —Oxford Citizen
“Tyson’s novel The Past Is Never revels in the line between
personal and geographical histories . . . a profound entry point
toward the region’s many interconnected caves and deep mysteries.”
—Entropy magazine
“The Past is Never reads like a new kind of southern fiction.”
—hottoddy.co
"In The Past Is Never, author Tiffany Quay Tyson spins a story that
resonates with Southern Gothic tradition." —Colorado Sun
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