Praise for Nightjar
“To read Emily Ruskovich is to unwrap a gift: her stories are surprising, rewarding, beautiful. There are strange love affairs, hearts gently breaking, cherished childhood memories that turn out to be untrue; in clear and distinctive prose, she evokes the epic scope of quiet lives.”—Paula Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author of A Slow Fire Burning
“These are marvelous and unsettling stories. Ruskovich’s prose is lambent, the relationships between her characters are thorny, complex, and mesmerizing, and the shapes of her stories constantly surprise. I loved Nightjar.”—Kelly Link, bestselling author of The Book of Love
“These are exquisite short stories. They disturb, delight, and linger long after finishing.”—Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses
“Ruskovich blends urgent pacing with lush wooded scenery and intimate psychological details. It’s a marvel.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“In this exquisitely tailored collection of five stories, Ruskovich plumbs the depths of mystery, memory, and the quiet grief of intimacy . . . Like Idaho, this book has a compelling slipperiness, both in time and reality. Ruskovich’s characters are often in two places in time at once, and she expertly weaves memory and observation to fuse the past and present together . . . A portal to a haunting, liminal Pacific Northwest.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Praise for Emily Ruskovich
“You know you’re in masterly hands here. . . . Wrenching and beautiful.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Sensuous, exquisitely crafted.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Riveting . . . exquisitely rendered with masterful language and imagery . . . powerful and deeply moving.”—The Washington Post
“Shatteringly original . . . upturns everything you think you know about story. . . . You could read Idaho just for the sheer beauty of the prose, the expert way Ruskovich makes everything strange and yet absolutely familiar. . . . She startles with images so fresh, they make you see the world anew.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Ruskovich’s prose is immensely seductive.”—The Boston Globe
“Haunting, propulsive and gorgeously written.”—People
“Ruskovich knows how to build a page-turner from the opening paragraph.”—Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
“Ruskovich’s prose is lyrical but keen, a poem that never gets lost in its own rhythm . . . with a Marilynne Robinson–like emphasis on the private, painfully human contemplation going on inside the characters’ brains. The result is writing as bruisingly beautiful as the Idaho landscape.”—A.V. Club
