Publishers Weekly
04/15/2024
This sultry Southern gothic from Connor, the pseudonym of Robyn Barrow and Alexandra Cronin (who previously collaborated on Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves), delivers heat and chills in equal measure. Lil Clearwater labors endlessly on the pecan orchard left to her by her mother. Her equilibrium is shattered when Jason, the high school sweetheart who left her behind to go to law school, returns to their depressed hometown. Meanwhile Sasha, Lil’s “lesbian-outsider twin sister,” reluctantly returns from New York City and finds Autumn, her unrequited childhood crush, back as well. As Lil, Jason, Sasha, and Autumn weave a tangled web of desire and distrust, supernatural forces stalk the community: feral children run through the woods, house fires flare up and extinguish themselves, and a shadowy, monstrous presence stalks the edges of town. With lyrical prose and a rich seam of folklore, Connor artfully braids satisfying mystery and romance subplots, creating an abiding sense of unease. This story of crumbling grandeur and family secrets will leave readers hungry for more. Agent: Kate Burke, Blake Friedmann Literary. (June)
From the Publisher
"A sultry Southern gothic…With lyrical prose and a rich seam of folklore, Connor artfully braids satisfying mystery and romance subplots, creating an abiding sense of unease. This story of crumbling grandeur and family secrets will leave readers hungry for more." — Publishers Weekly
"Tangled in the twisted roots of where the past and present meet, The Pecan Children is a haunting story of survival, limned with touches of magic. Fans of Delia Owens and Alix E. Harrow will enjoy this beautifully written, modern-day southern gothic wrapped in pecan vines, heartache, and hope." — Heather Webber, USA Today bestselling author of Midnight at the Blackbird Café
"With creeping claustrophobia and a filter of the surreal over lushly detailed lives, The Pecan Children captures both the magic and despair of trying to hold onto home when the world is determined to take it away from you." — Kiersten White, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Mister Magic
"With lyricism that commands attention, The Pecan Children offers a soulful exploration of the familial on an untamed and lush stage of what remains of the gathering commons." — Monica Brashears, author of House of Cotton
"Part gothic, part magical, part mysterious, The Pecan Children is steeped in atmosphere and place. A haunting and beautiful story about forgotten people and declining places. A hopeful tale that will pull you in like kudzu and hold you spellbound. An engaging page-turner!" — Terah Shelton Harris, author of One Summer in Savannah
"Quietly suspenseful, mysterious, and magical, The Pecan Children is about forgotten places and the people who stay behind. We are transported to a rural Arkansas town in decline, being sold off parcel by parcel, run by its annual pecan harvest, and about to be swallowed up by a lurking darkness—a place that could be and reminds us of so many places across America. An intricately woven narrative that expertly juggles all its moving pieces, Quinn Connor shows us an American South haunted by a history buried long ago and teaches us that the past is never really forgotten." — E.M. Tran, author of Daughters of the New Year
"Cleverly ensnaring their reader like vines of southern kudzu, the emotional and temporal fractals in The Pecan Children make for an eerie, delicious book about loyalty, loss, and the haunting nature of unsated want. It is unlike anything I have ever read before; singular and seductive." — Katie Lattari, author of Dark Things I Adore
"The Pecan Children is a revelation in ingenuity: lyrical, compelling and unexpected. A haunting tale that pays homage to a disappearing past. A wishful story where the sanctity and sanctuary of home gets trapped in a loop and becomes fractured. There are splintered visions of what was and what is and the story ends up giving us heroes but no fairytale ending. Readers will be drawn to the heartbreak of this work about a bygone era that is lost except in remembering. What a thoroughly mesmerizing read!" — Leah Weiss, author of If the Creek Don't Rise
"This suspenseful, eerie ode to doomed Southern towns lulled me into a spell with its atmospheric beauty, then had me gasping when I realized what was happening. Quinn Connor has created an iconic addition to the canon of stories about hometowns and the fearful, hopeful hold they have over us. Like fast-growing kudzu, The Pecan Children wraps itself tightly around your heart...at some point, you'll try to glance up from these pages and find yourself transfixed instead." — Sara Flannery Murphy, author of The Wonder State
"A Southern Gothic, pecan-scented fever dream of a novel. Beautiful, haunting, and very unique." — Ann Dávila Cardinal, author of We Need No Wings
"Quinn Connor viscerally portrays the quiet claustrophobia of a dying rural town, and that's just the beginning. An atmospheric ghost story where nothing is quite as it seems, The Pecan Children is delicious and sinister, and Southern Gothic right down to its roots." — Haley Harrigan, author of Secrets of Southern Girls
"A captivating blend of horror, southern charm, and unapologetic queer representation that redefines the boundaries of family and love...a fresh and compelling take on both horror and family dynamics, leaving readers spellbound until the very last page. It's a masterful exploration of the intersection between darkness and light, tradition and progress, making it a must-read for fans of literary horror and inclusive storytelling." — Booklist
