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Publisher’s Weekly says: “Bender’s a keen observer of marriage and the psychological bonds that tie mothers, daughters, fathers, and sons. The novel excels in stirring the reader’s sympathy and outrage…Bender offers an absorbing and often touching look at the struggles of an urban middle-class family to adjust to an unfamiliar America—rural, provincial and homogeneous.”
And Kirkus Reviews says: Is it possible to know another person, even one you love, is the question posed in this novel…..Bender portrays a marriage in crisis with heartbreaking accuracy.
Author John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead, says, “Quiet power is something we have too little of in our fiction these days, so I cherished it all the more in Karen Bender’s Town of Empty Rooms. She observes her characters from what you might call a respectful distance, but in a way that penetrates to the psychic muck. She knows that gossip is one of the ways we reveal ourselves. This doesn’t sound like any other book about a Southern small town.”
Craig Nova, author, most recently, of The Constant Heart, says, “A Town of Empty Rooms is a gift to anyone who loves real books about real people. It is profound, moving, and so beautifully written as to break your heart. It’s as though Karen Bender is channeling Willa Cather, with a bit of George Orwell. Charming, real, and absolutely necessary.”
Edith Pearlman, author of Binocular Vision, says, “I read this absorbing book in one sitting. It has everything to make you go on reading – conflict, hope, disappointment; displays of confusion, displays of ignorance, displays of foolishness; —and, at bottom, an affecting depiction of human isolation.”
Tom Grimes, author of Mentor: A Memoir, says: “Karen Bender’s novel is filled with subtle recognitions. As her exiled characters rebuild their lives, they discover the human heart’s resilient capacity for love. A Town of Empty Rooms does what all terrific novels do: it resonates with the reader long after its covers have been closed. Read the book; you’ll see.”
A Town of Empty Rooms can now be pre-ordered on amazon, bn.com, indiebound, and powell’s.