Jean Thompson is the author of fourteen books of fiction, including the National Book Award finalist Who Do You Love, the NYT bestseller The Year We Left Home, and the NYT Notable Book Wide Blue Yonder. Her work has been published in the New Yorker, as well as dozens of other magazines, and anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and the Pushcart Prize. She has been the recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, among other accolades, and has taught creative writing at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Reed College, Northwestern University, and many other colleges and universities.
“A closely observed, droll, coming-of-age story . . . An absolute
keeper.”—Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air
“Wry, canny, and delectable . . . As a tribute to the soul-saving
value of art, a cri de coeur for women striving to make authentic
lives, and a pipeline of guidance from the elders to the emerging,
The Poet’s House offers many rooms, infinitely worth the tour.”—The
San Francisco Chronicle
“The brilliantly rendered mise-en-scène of quarrelsome, ego-ridden
yet touchingly fragile poets and the literary entrepreneurs who
circle around them makes a vivid backdrop for this classic
coming-of-age tale. More thoughtful, elegantly written fiction in
the classic realist tradition by the gifted Thompson.”—Kirkus
Reviews, starred review
"Ever insightful, imaginative, compassionate, and funny, Thompson
is a virtuoso of thorny interactions between wholly realized
characters rife with contradictions. And she is so in her element,
bringing this richly dimensional book-anchored mise-en-scène to
life with lacerating wit and rueful tenderness while adeptly
interleaving a poet's long, covert battle against sexism and regret
with the verdant tale of a young woman taking root in an
unexpectedly sustaining realm."—Booklist, starred review
“A coming-of-age novel, a novel of manners (Jane Austen, make some
room on that big bench, dear), a page-turning narrative with
laugh-out-loud scenes, and ultimately a hopeful, affirming book
about how words can stir the mystery in us, help us find ourselves,
and maybe even make us, however reluctantly, bigger versions of
ourselves. The Poet’s House is a book I’ll be recommending to my
friends who are readers and even to those who are not, but who
will, to be sure, fall in love with Carla, with her discoveries,
and with that master storyteller, Jean Thompson.”—Julia Alvarez,
author of Afterlife
“Beautifully rendered with wry wit, unusual charm, and poignant
insights.”—The Christian Science Monitor
“A literary charmer . . . Amusing and true-to-life.”—Marion Winik,
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"Jean Thompson is a national treasure. She's the kind of
writer who can make you laugh and cry at the same time, a
consummate prose stylist whose work is full of insight and wisdom
and a deadly keen eye for the foibles and self-deceptions of her
characters. The Poet's House is yet another indelible masterpiece
in her oeuvre."—Dan Chaon, author of Sleepwalk
“Charming . . . Part of the fun of The Poet's House is in its small
details and memorable descriptions, but the biggest pleasures are
Carla's evolution, the many well-drawn characters and subtle pokes
at the competitiveness of the literary world.”—BookPage
"Thompson’s talents for immersive storytelling and sharp characters
are on brilliant display, particularly in her portrayal of Carla’s
longing for something greater, and of Viridian’s conflicted
feelings about Mathias’s work. The author’s fans will savor
this."—Publishers Weekly
“Jean Thompson makes hanging out with poets look like even more of
a good time than one suspects, in real life, it might be. The
Poet's House is terrific company: funny, poignant,
and full of realistically quirky and original characters. A
thoroughly enjoyable read.”—Julie Schumacher, author of The
Shakespeare Requirement
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