Dry Spell
What began as just another long stretch of hours in the parched and daredevil fall of 2006, when he was too young to leave home, but too old to stay home—Nate Simmons said no. Bolstered by the thrill of defiance, he barrels down a path that forever changes two households.
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In her characteristically luminous prose, Avery Caswell has brought us another beautifully crafted and riveting novel about mothers and children. As with Salvation and Mother Load Caswell does not shy away from often-unspoken truths about motherhood: devotion may exist alongside the desire to flee, love and fury are inextricably bound. Salvation is about an abduction; Dry Spell about separations that are propelled from within. Both (like her earlier Mother Load) are heart-breaking, wise, and ultimately redemptive in a way that makes me want to read them over and over. Caswell’s work is unfailingly honest and searching; it is a gift to us all.
—Abigail DeWitt,
author of News of Our Loved Ones
Avery Caswell unspools an expansive story, capturing with razor-sharp clarity, keen imagination, and deep empathy two memorable small-town southern families. The narrative—illuminating how we are all bound in unexpected ways—brims with intelligence and insight. This novel will get under your skin and stay with you long after you turn the last page.
— Judy Goldman,
author of Together: A Memoir of a Marriage and a Medical Mishap (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday)
Avery Caswell shows us just what lies beneath the drifting leaves of fall, and carefully laid plans in one small town. This is a novel about mothers and children, about desire and restlessness. It is about magic.
—Karen MacElmurray,
author of Wanting Radiance