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Praise for The Center of Everything

“This gorgeous novel is well worth your time.”

—People

“[A] wonderful cast of interesting characters . . . And it is really the way Polly thinks—about her children and her childhood, her memories and imaginings, her immediate circumstances and her place in the world, even the toothsome dishes she prepares (with occasional lapses lately)—that makes this book so engaging . . . Carrying us along, Polly conjures a richly textured, often lovely life of everyday loss and longing and endless speculation, where ‘everything goes missing but everything lives on, at least for a while, in the small kingdom of your head.’ Indeed, Harrison’s novel takes the unreliable narrator to a whole new place: in short, to the center of everything.”

—Ellen Akins, The Washington Post

“A meticulously crafted, graceful novel.”

—O, The Oprah Magazine

“Gorgeous . . . Harrison’s writing is as lush as the landscapes themselves . . . Harrison’s writing shimmers like light-sparkled water.”

—Caroline Leavitt, San Francisco Chronicle

“Between Polly’s fragmented thoughts and Harrison’s rich descriptions of the wild beauty of Montana, The Center of Everything does have a dreamlike quality. Still, its reflections on complex family relationships, the occasional unreliability of memory and the secrets we keep to protect ourselves and others ground it firmly in reality.”

—Sarah Stiefvater, PureWow

“Brilliant . . . Harrison plumbs complex family relationships and sheds insight on the power of memories and how they shape her characters. Harrison shines with passages of vivid imagery as Polly gains an added dimension of perception from looking at art and photographs. Readers will find themselves wishing this won’t end.”

—Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review)

“Despite various mysteries and suspicious deaths in this story about a Montana woman uncovering secrets past and present, Harrison wisely concentrates less on plot twists than on exploring the trickiness of memory where love and family are concerned . . . Through small moments, particularly shared meals and drinks, the reader becomes intimately involved in Polly’s inner life and falls in love with a vividly portrayed Montana devoid of Western clichés. A sharply intelligent, warmhearted embrace of human imperfection—the kind of book that invites a second reading.”

—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“With ‘so many books and so little time,’ few beg to be reread. The Center of Everything, Jamie Harrison’s sixth novel, is one of those few . . . A family saga teeming with drama and no shortage of conflicts, detailed nature references (‘the alley rabbit—clear-eyed, dusty gravel-gray fur,’ a ‘gyre of birds,’ a ‘quiver of bats’) and family love and loyalty lend a gentle tone. Rereading reveals ‘a-ha’ moments cleverly tucked into this exquisitely crafted novel.”

—Cheryl McKeon, Shelf Awareness

“Lyrical, profound . . . Recommended for book clubs and fans of complex, literary fiction.”

—Booklist

“The Center of Everything is a bighearted, feet-on-the-ground, bracing, intelligent book. Its people will endure in readers’ memories, page after compelling page.”

—Thomas McGuane