Praise for Wilderness Run

“Maria Hummel’s poetically rendered debut novel contains the stuff of great fiction … vivid … intriguing.”

—Lisa Robinson Bailey, The Independent Weekly

“Wilderness Run has many pluses, including realistic battle scenes and some lovely writing … dramatic.”

—Melissa MacKenzie, Rutland Herald (Vermont)

“A gripping debut, shot through with poetry and violence, Wilderness Run traces the demons that divide us, whether as a nation or in our hearts. At turns radiant and shocking, understated and unbearable, Wilderness Run proceeds with the force of a coming locomotive.”

—Nick Flynn, author of Some Ether

“A gifted poet has immersed herself in the history of her home territory to write a mesmerizing first novel. Maria Hummel’s Wilderness Run is the work of a prodigious new talent.”

—David Huddle, author of The Story of a Million Years

“Hummel’s debut … is gracefully and evocatively written.… Hummel creates solid characters while capturing the day-to-day reality of military life during the Civil War … well-paced, elegant prose … poignant.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Imagine Cormac McCarthy meeting Alice Hoffman and you have Maria Hummel’s graphic, blood-and-bone battle scenes woven through the softer focus narrative musings of her characters, sons and daughters growing up quickly under separation and fire.… Riveting and poignant, impossible to put down, painful and sweet, difficult to ignore. Ambitious in metaphor, Wilderness Run is anytime, the War is every war, the loss is always personal. Maria Hummel’s debut novel is worthy and unforgettable.”

—John Valentine, The Regulator Bookshop, Durham, North Carolina