Catherine Gammon

“Catherine Gammon’s The Martyrs, The Lovers offers readers Gammon’s characteristically precise, beautiful prose, but there is also a thrilling new uncanniness here. With The Martyrs, The Lovers, Gammon renders humane truth out of fiction based in fact. A Sebaldian pleasure, perhaps related to Maylis de Kerangal’s practice of ‘weav[ing] the documentary as a poem’ in its comfort with unknowableness, and without doubt a thoroughly captivating story of the cruelties of ambition disappointed.” — Gabriel Blackwell, author of Doom Town and CORRECTION

Gabe Blackwell and I have never met but I’ve loved the books of his that I’ve read — most recently Doom Town from Zerogram Press — and as editor of the sadly closed The Rupture he published several short pieces of mine. When China Blue came out I asked if he would read an advance copy in the hope for words of recommendation, which he generously gave. Now he offers words of praise again, this time for The Martyrs, The Lovers. And they couldn’t be more beautiful.

With great thanks to Gabe I post them here, along with the link for pre-ordering.