Pale

“The plot and writing are evocative of the work of the late Ernest Gaines; it’s a story simply and directly told, and by that simplicity and directness it exposes familial cruelties and kindnesses in equal measure. This is a promising beginning for a writer who, whether he realizes it or not, continues a rich and lyrical narrative tradition. A beautiful first novel.”

Library Journal (starred review)

“Farmer’s debut captures the delicate and dangerous lose-lose reality of a person in Bernice’s position…Farmer opens with cotton imagery and returns to it throughout, disallowing any visions of beautiful, puffy whiteness…The story’s rewards and Bernice’s experience are important.”

Booklist

“A beautifully wrought novel, with each character sensitively drawn, exposing the lasting effects of trauma.”

John Copenhaver, author of Dodging and Burning

“His sumptuous prose creates an operatic vision of life on a cotton plantation in 1960s Mississippi, a world on the cusp of great change that many of its characters resist with all their power.”

May-lee Chai, author of Useful Phrases for Immigrants

“The evil of intergenerational racism is revealed by the preference to live in a quicksand of hatred, to choose slow vengeance over breaking free.”

Laila Ibrahim, author of Yellow Crocus

“There are perhaps a hundred ways to tell this story; the one Farmer chooses is striking for its patience. He allows his novel to germinate, to uncurl its stalk and lift its head to the sky, then swell into a white, menacing bloom…Pale is an explosion in very slow motion, and what slows it down is powerful, lyrical language…The lover of literary craft will especially savor Farmer’s mastery over point of view.”

Amherst magazine

“Farmer has woven a richly descriptive historical tale that chronicles just how much pain and racism can alter the course of one’s life. Read Pale and discover along with Bernice that ‘some things just don’t keep well inside this house’—and, no matter how long they have remained hidden, one of those things is secrets.”

Deep South Magazine

“A beautifully complex story…Though time in Pale seems fungible, the world Farmer has created is specific and visceral, cushioned with bitter cotton bolls and weighted by heavy summer clouds. It is a masterful achievement.”

Washington Independent Review of Books

“A superbly crafted story of racism, family secrets, compulsive revenge, and the legacy of patriarchy, Pale also showcases the impressively literary talents of novelist Edward A. Farmer and his genuine flair for the kind of narrative storytelling that creates memorably distinctive characters and a compelling page-turner of a read from cover to cover.”

Midwest Book Review