A National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" Honoree
Winner of the Ploughshares John C. Zacharis First Book Award
A Best Book of the Year: Vogue, AV Club
Longlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award
A Summer Reading Pick: O Magazine, Vogue, Nylon, Glamour, Refinery29, Bustle, Lit Hub, The Millions, Lambda Literary, The Christian Science Monitor
A Most Anticipated Book of the Year: Lit Hub, The Millions
A Publishers Weekly Writer to Watch
"Sharp, and by turns, melancholy and wry . . . Indelible."
—Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air
“An enchanting, sparkling book about the many meanings of sisterhood . . . an effervescent treat of a novel.”
—Kristin Iversen, Refinery29
“A modern and sly spin on the meaning of devotion.”
—Chloe Schama, Vogue
“The power and pleasure of this novel lie in the slow blooming of desire from tiny seeds of doubt.”
—Domenica Ruta, The New York Times Book Review
“Claire Luchette’s madcap and melancholic debut is a stunner.”
—Rien Fertel, AV Club
“Livel[y], funn[y] . . . moving . . . Agatha of Little Neon is a novel of self-discovery and of faith.”
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME
“[A] brilliant debut . . . There is a dark humor in Luchette’s work . . . [and] stunning, haunting prose.”
—Jackie Thomas-Kennedy, Star Tribune
“More meditation than story, prayer than novel, [Agatha of Little Neon] is the sort that in crystalline minimalist prose with nary a comma out of order, evokes midcentury existentialist classics . . . This is the most moving book about grace and what it means to whisper a silent prayer to nobody that I read this year.”
—Ed Simon, The Millions
“Startlingly funny . . . This is the rare novel that is heartwarming without ever being saccharine . . . A person from any walk of life would enjoy reading Agatha of Little Neon.”
—Jenny Singer, Glamour
“[A] deadpan novel about self-actualization, loss of faith, and the meanings of sisterhood.”
—Sophia June, Nylon
“Compelling . . . Agatha of Little Neon reaches that goal which all novels fundamentally pursue—saying something authentic and essential about the human experience—and does so with verisimilitude and the grace that comes with living simply.”
—D.W. White, Chicago Review of Books
"Vibrant . . . A charming and incisive debut."
—Kirkus Reviews
“[A] dynamic and resonant debut . . . Employing . . . shimmering prose, Luchette [creates] a lovely story of how cross-cultural exchange can foster hope and fruitful advancements. This is charming and remarkably thoughtful.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Well-paced and convincing. Readers will appreciate Luchette’s finely observed characters."
—Joan Curbow, Booklist
“I never knew I needed a book about four Catholic sisters reassigned to a neon-painted halfway house in a former mill town, but reader, I did . . . Luchette’s writing is both wry and earnest, which might be my favorite combination.”
—Eliza Smith, Lit Hub
“A smoldering, graceful debut . . . Luchette writes with clarity, restraint and gentle humor.”
—Jenny Shank, America Magazine
“A completely weird and compassionate delight.”
—Bethanne Patrick, on Twitter
“Agatha of Little Neon is the rare kind of book that reads like a transmission from a person you don’t know, but who is already nestled close to your heart. Full of small devotions, pith and vigor, and a bounty of tender feeling for a world that is not quite as full of grace as it could be, this bold debut shines with a light all its own and announces Claire Luchette as a true original and a voice to follow closely.”
—Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine
“There’s not a false step in this novel of sisterhood, belonging, and what it means to choose a life for yourself. Agatha of Little Neon is a brilliant testament to Claire Luchette’s skill and original voice.”
—Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers
“Claire Luchette is so wildly talented that I would follow them anywhere. Here, it’s to Woonsocket along with four women who are searching for meaning and a sense of belonging from each other and the world beyond. The result is a novel that’s blazingly original, wry, and perfectly attuned to the oddness—and the profundity—of life.”
—Cristina Henríquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans
“Claire Luchette is a dazzlingly gifted new voice, a master at balancing a sneaky deadpan wit with deep and genuine pathos. Agatha of Little Neon brilliantly mixes the sacred and the transgressive, the solemn and the absurd, and the profound, contradictory longings for belonging and independence. This book is a moving meditation on how to be a woman in the world—and how to be a human.”
—Karen Thompson Walker, author of The Dreamers
2021-05-19
Four young nuns wind up running a halfway house full of quirky characters in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Four Catholic sisters live with the elderly Sister Roberta in upstate New York. All on the edge of turning 30, the young women are at loose ends: Their day care is shuttered, and Sister Roberta is retiring. However, the four women refuse to be parted: “We were fixed to one another, like parts of some strange, asymmetrical body: Frances was the mouth; Mary Lucille, the heart; Therese, the legs. And I, Agatha, the eyes.” Eventually, the Buffalo diocese decides to transfer them to Rhode Island, where they are put in charge of running Little Neon, a “Mountain Dew”–colored house for residents trying to get sober and get back on their feet. When the local Catholic high school needs someone to teach geometry, the sisters volunteer Agatha, who is labelled as the quietest but the smartest of the quartet. As Agatha immerses herself in her new life, she finds the residents of Little Neon, from parolee Baby to Tim Gary, whose disfigured jaw prevents him from finding love, open her eyes to new realities, as do her colleagues and students at the high school. Eventually, Agatha can no longer ignore that the church, and most of all she herself, is changing. Luchette’s novel, her first, is structured in small chapters that feel like vignettes from a slightly wacky indie film. The book is frequently vibrant with resonant images: Agatha learning to roller skate in Little Neon’s driveway or a resident drunk in a sequined dress riding a lawnmower through the snow. But even though the book feels light, Luchette does not turn away from the responsibility of examining the darkness undergirding the institution of the Catholic Church.
A charming and incisive debut.
