Northwest Corner - Tapa dura

The masterly Northwest Corner is that finest of things-a moral novel about mortal events (Dennis Lehane)

I was enthralled by Northwest Corner, reluctant to tear myself away even for a moment from a tale so delicately assembled, so well paced. Schwartz evokes Steinbeck and Updike in his magical ability to weave, out of a regional story of family, a broader chronicle of America. I had a sense on every page of a writer whose abilities are at their peak, the parts of this tale interlocking just so, and yet being anything but predictable as Schwartz defines the nature of atonement, the many shades of love, and the face of redemption. (Abraham Verghese author of Cutting for Stone)

Stark and deeply effecting . . . readers will grow to care deeply about whether and how [the characters'] lives can be redeemed (Kirkus Reviews)

Families may exist just to witness one another's disappointments, and the tribes in John Burham Schwartz's riveting, poetic new novel have plenty to gawk and wonder at. This is the first set of characters I've come across in years to compelt attention not just with outside action, of which there is plenty, but with psychological depths that reward study. It's rife with tragedies and redemptions, a wise book without being wise-assed, and you should read it. (Mary Karr)

This novel assembles the converging stories of father and son like a patchwork quilt, dipping back into the past, speaking from the viewpoint of one character and then another. The prose is clean and precision-cut, the narrative voice engaging but unsentimental. This is a very good novel. (Daily Mail)