Press and Praise
“Wrinkle’s tender first novel…is both redemptive and affirming.”
The New York Times Editor’s Choice (pdf)
“A masterly literary work….This debut occasions celebration. Haunting, tender and superbly measured, Wash is both redemptive and affirming.”
The New York Times Book Review (pdf)
“The voices of the past cannot speak for themselves and must rely on the artists of the future to honor them. It’s a profound responsibility and one that Margaret Wrinkle meets in her brilliant novel, Wash.”
The Wall Street Journal (pdf)
“Never has a fictionalized window into the relationship between slave and master opened onto such believable territory….Wash unfolds like a dreamy, impressionistic landscape….[A] luminous book.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (pdf)
“Books like William Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Edward P. Jones’ The Known World, and Russell Banks’ Cloudsplitter form a kind of Truth and Reconciliation Commission of their own. Add Margaret Wrinkle’s Wash to that illustrious company.”
The Dallas Morning News (pdf)
“A marvel. By turns grim and lyrical, heart-wrenching and hopeful.”
People (4 stars; a People Pick) (pdf)
“A powerful novel.”
-O, The Oprah Magazine
“A magnificent and challenging novel of slavery, full of wisdom and the divinity of nature, that paints an ultimately uplifting portrait of the resilience of the human spirit.”
Shelf Awareness (pdf)
“[A] deeply researched, deeply felt debut”
Publishers Weekly (starred review) (pdf)
“A moving and heart-rending novel.”
Kirkus Reviews (pdf)
The Santa Fe New Mexican, Pasatiempo (pdf)
Chapter 16, Nashville City Paper (pdf)
Birmingham News (See for photos from the launch event)
RADIO
KNEW, San Francisco, California: “Conversations on the Coast”
KWMR, Pt. Reyes, California: “The Place We Live”
“Boldly conceived and brilliantly written, Margaret Wrinkle’s Wash reveals the horrible human predation of slavery and its nest of nightmares. With a truthfulness even beyond Faulkner, Wrinkle makes her novelistic debut in a monumental work of unflinching imagination.”
–Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab’s Wife
“A significant and hugely troubling book.” –Pinckney Benedict, author of Dogs of God
“Wrinkle masterfully takes us on a powerful journey through the darkest past and present of this country, boldly addressing the chasm of racial divide with the scalpel of a gruesome truth. Wash is the epitome of courage and determination to heal the central wound of this culture.”
–Malidoma Patrice Some, author of The Healing Wisdom of Africa
“Margaret Wrinkle’s Wash is a marvelous window into the world of nineteenth century American slavery—a powerful fusion of knowledge and imagination.”
–Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls Rising
“Wash is bold, unflinching, and when finished, certain to haunt the reader for a long, long time.”
–Ron Rash, author of Serena and The Cove
“A unique and powerful story, Wash tells a chapter of our past that we would rather look away from. Margaret Wrinkle makes sure we cannot.”
–Kevin Baker, author of Strivers Row
“This exquisite novel is a gift of healing. It exposes the dark and fearsome sin that stains our history. But in the genius of the telling, we are led to the tenderness at the bone, the humanity at the core, and buoyed by joy.”
–Beverly Swerling, author of Bristol House