Description:
Much like the sturdy bones of the centuries-old house in Echo Her Lovely Bones, the women who inhabited its rooms are bound together through the letters they leave in the attic.
Brief description: SHERRY ROBINSON is the author of Shadows Hold Their Breath (2022), Blessed (2019) and My Secrets Cry Aloud (2009) (released in a second edition in 2022 under the title Echo Her Lovely Bones). She is the retired Vice Provost and Professor of English at Eastern Kentucky University, where she spent thirteen years specializing in American Liter¬ature before moving into administrative positions.Robinson is a native of Lexington, Kentucky, where her desire to be an author was also born. From an early age, she became entranced with words, but it took many years and a few detours before the publication of her first novel. Among those detours was the completion of an MA from Eastern Kentucky University and a PhD from the University of Kentucky, both in English. Reading the works of so many accomplished authors taught her the characteristics of quality writing and inspired her to reignite her passion for writing. In addition to studying great works of literature, Robinson spent two summers at the Hindman Settlement School's Appalachian Writers Workshop under the mentorship of Silas House. She completed an MFA in creative writing from Eastern Kentucky University, Bluegrass Writers Studio, in 2021. She is a native of Lexington, Kentucky
Review Quotes:
Praise for Echo Her Lovely Bones
"Perhaps the greatest gift of Robinson's novel, written in a variety of distinct voices which are all linked by her well-crafted prose, is that she's given us characters we will not forget because they are simultaneously completely new creations yet are like so many of the women who have shaped our own lives." -SILAS HOUSE, New York Times bestselling author and author of Lark Ascending
"Sherry Robinson has the ability to go right to the heart of things: a family, a personality... She does not gloss over or neglect the real complexity of life."-LEE SMITH, New York Times bestselling author and author of Blue Marlin
Praise for Shadows Hold Their Breath
"An impressive and thoughtful exploration of the mistakes good people make." Kirkus Reviews(starred review)
"Like [Henrik] Ibsen's A Doll's House and [Kate] Chopin's The Awakening, Shadows Hold Their Breath explores one woman's decision to leave her husband and children rather than crumble under the weight of patriarchal roles. Kat is also burdened by grief and an unspoken love that perhaps even in her nascent self-awareness is still taboo. The novel offers no easy answers, no pure absolution, just Kat's honest quest to accept-and live-her truth."
-MARIE MANILLA, author of The Patron Saint of Ugly
"Shadows Hold Their Breath is a complicated story about motherhood, grief, and self-discovery. Kat is a troubled, empathetic character searching for independence and understanding. Writing in spare, descriptive prose, Robinson asks difficult and important questions about responsibility and independence without offering facile answers."
-CARTER SICKELS, author The Prettiest Star
"Shadows Hold Their Breath dispels myths of maternal negligence and malice. Robinson demonstrates that there are no heroes or villains in most families, only the choices of a particular season and the reverberating consequences. Set in the wake of the Vietnam War, against the backdrop of social unrest and shifting patriarchy, this novel of identity will leave you rooting for a character whose choices could easily be condemned. Robinson's novel is a beautiful exercise in mercy."
-JULIE HENSLEY, author of Landfall: A Ring of Stories