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Dirtpickers

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What to expect

'A magnificent novel' Belinda McKeon, author of Solace and Tender
'Truly unforgettable' Fíona Scarlett, author of Boys Don't Cry
'Everything I love in a novel' Jennie Godfrey, bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things

A heart-swelling beauty of a debut novel of love, trauma and found family - perfect for fans of Chris Whitaker, Liz Moore and Marilynne Robinson.

'Little Maude Rowe sits in the crick, her pockets heavy with gold, the blood on her face turned to powdered rust . . .'

In a remote valley in Idaho in 1981, a man, a woman and three children stop running to wash the blood from their hands and bodies. They are the few survivors of a terrible tragedy. Their only choice now is, somehow, to become a family.

Five years earlier, Opal and her husband James arrive in the small mining community of Silver Valley, drawn by promises of fortune and independence. There they meet Baron Rowe, the charismatic visionary who controls the community with an iron fist. Baron's son Denny has spent his life trying, and failing, to live up to Baron's expectations, and to protect his little sister Maude from their father's excesses.

Soon, a tragic accident will change all their lives. And five years later, change will come again at the barrel of a gun . . .

*A winner of the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair 2024*

Critics Review

Dirtpickers consumed me as I got lost in its lyrical language and pieced together its haunting narrative. Every sentence is a poem. One of those books that linger long after the last page has been turned. A gorgeous piece of work, everything I love in a novel.
Jennie Godfrey, bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things
Dirtpickers is a magnificent novel. Edie May Hand's gift for language and for exploring the complexities of what humans are capable of is stunning.
Belinda McKeon, author of Solace and Tender
A novel that will live in your head for a long time.
Belfast Telegraph
A sensational gift of a novel, laced with lyrical, evocative prose, with characters so vivid they live and breathe well beyond the page. A deeply human story of love, loss, trauma and resilience, a truly unforgettable read.
Fíona Scarlett, author of Boys Don't Cry
A wrenching portrait of the precariousness of life, loss and how we love in the face of vulnerability. Edie May Hand captures life in her characters and livestreams them through the reader's emotions. I found myself, more than once, holding my breath awaiting fate. Dirtpickers is a moving novel rendered with vivid beauty.
Charleen Hurtubise, author of The Polite Act of Drowning
Edie May Hand's debut slowly builds a portrait of a family through carefully chosen language and a quiet, unshakeable confidence . . . What emerges is a tender study of what it means to love another person, and how love can take root even in the most unlikely places. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel
Paula McGrath, author of A History of Running Away
An unforgettable novel about resilience and repair, Dirtpickers honours both the weight of trauma and the quiet courage it takes to ask for help. Tender, unflinching and ultimately life-affirming
Seth Insua, author of Human, Animal
Gorgeously written, by turns visceral and tender, Dirtpickers is a novel about family bonds formed through grief, necessity, and ultimately, love - substances which run thicker than blood. A truly extraordinary work, with a voice so evocative of Idaho's valleys that it seems to have come up out of the ground itself
Hesse Phillips, author of Lightborne

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