“Every reader remembers his first. The first novel that swept him off his feet and sent him stumbling into a parallel universe. It’s like a first girlfriend, it’s hard to get over, yet the very reason why you’re reading is to reproduce that feeling again. I’ve been lucky in 2014, because it happened a couple times. It wasn’t EXACTLY that feeling, but it was close. The last time it happened, I was reading Gravesend, by William Boyle. It’s a wonderful, sad, elegiac and understated novel about a community of people at the crossroads. Truth is, I felt a very particular sense of satisfaction when I’ve read Gravesend, because finding novels like that is the reason why I read.”

Floored by this really wonderful Dead End Follies review of Gravesend. Thanks so much, Benoit!