A continual delight . . . exhilarating ambition and inventiveness, an American book of wonders. The New York Times Book Review
Beautiful . . . Saskia speaks in a pastiche of received languages, most of them like the shards of the Odyssey that crop up everywhere grandiose, stilted, and unexpectedly lovely. The New Yorker
Some books open at the touch like an enchanted door. So it is with The Saskiad, [an] inspired coming-of-age story. The Washington Post
Richly imagined . . . lyrical and compelling. The Los Angeles Times
Spectacularly inventive . . . [The Saskiad] uses the legacy of one generation to examine the power of history and the lure of the myths that shape us all." Glamour
The Saskiad manages, magically, to attain mythic grandeur while remaining entirely true to its contemporary premise, simultaneously an adventure and a psychological portrait, simultaneously vast and meticulously, beautifully detailed and observed. The key to this breathtaking balancing act is Hall's passionate imagining of the inner life of his extraordinary protagonist; her coming-of-age is charted unsentimentally, with real insight, compassion and wit. Tony Kushner
Brian Hall is the author of the novels The Dreamers, The Saskiad, Fall of Frost, and the forthcoming The Stone Loves the World, in addition to three works of nonfiction, including The Impossible Country: A Journey Through the Last Days of Yugoslavia and Madeleine's World. His journalism has appeared in publications such as Time, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine. He lives in Ithaca, New York.
