RaveThe New York Times Book Review[A] poetic novel ... The most intriguing character in this novel is Mother Nature herself, an earth that has turned against its inhabitants. Alma’s intrinsic connection to the land only intensifies as she endeavors to lay her mother’s ashes to rest in the soil ... Friedman’s language is visceral, scrubbing away at dull details until they shine ... the reader too becomes immersed in Friedman’s layered and luscious prose, the vibrant colors of Alma’s world ... Most captivating, though, is the stillness and quiet — lines that end abruptly and the images that conjure a deafening silence — representations of the graveyards that no longer exist, but whose absence is haunting.