Sweetgirl - Hardcover

A riveting novel... far, far funnier than it has any right to be. If you re a fan of Charles Portis and Denis Johnson--and if you re not, then you should be--then this is book is exactly what you ve been wanting, what you ve been waiting for. --Brock Clarke, author of The Happiest People in the World"

[Sweetgirl is] filled with true wit, cunning, and the unwanted wisdom of a child denied a childhood. This novel comes on like the blizzard at its center, and leaves you dazzled and dazed not only by how much Travis Mulhauser knows, but how deeply he cares. --Michael Parker, author of All I Have in this World"

Sweetgirl is a gritty, compelling novel of a world where even a sixteen-year-old must confront what Edith Wharton called the hard considerations of the poor. Mulhauser depicts his people and their landscape with uncompromising fidelity. --Ron Rash"

There s a big old neon heart pulsing on every page of Sweetgirl, like the sign to a bar you can t help but enter. I felt thrilled and shocked, and I couldn t stop turning the pages. Travis Mulhauser is a writer to be reckoned with. --Lindsay Hunter, author of Ugly Girls and Don't Kiss Me"

[A] compulsively readable novel...finish the first chapter and you will be hooked...violent, dark, and impressively redemptive... Sweetgirl is a upper-Midwestern homage to great American quest novels like True Grit and Winter s Bone. It is a truly memorable and remarkable read. --Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs"

The perfect balance of humor and heartache... a masterful debut... as wise as it is suspenseful, as funny as it is tragic... written with guts, grit, and grace, Sweetgirl is the book you want to keep you company on a cold winter s night. --Ploughshares, Best Books of the New Year"

smart, taut, and believable writing --St. Louis Post-Dispatch"

Sweetgirl works on so many levels, it s difficult to know how to classify it... hilarious, heartbreaking and true, a major accomplishment from an author who looks certain to have an impressive career ahead of him. --NPR"

Mulhauser has created a suspenseful tale of sadness and redemption. --Herald-Sun (Durham, NC)"

So good that I read a few paragraphs aloud to my podiatrist... Sweetgirl, by Travis Mulhauser of Durham. Though meth and drugs infest almost every page, this debut novel is chillingly lyrical and filled with a love so raw and fierce it takes your breath. --Charlotte Observer"