PanThe New York Times Book ReviewConley’s book is... short on action, but without a compensating depth of character analysis ... There is promise in the idea of two families growing and warping around the secret of queerness, in such a time and place. Yet its development here is circular and shallow ... Sensibly, Conley doesn’t attempt to recreate the speech of 18th-century Puritans ... The issue with his dialogue is that it’s undifferentiated, every character sounding the same. And what can’t be forgiven is his profligacy with verbal cliché.
