Reviews
Praise for Camperdowns
“Kelly’s novel is a coming-of-age meets a whodunit… A laugh-out-loud funny page turner.”
— Ayana Mathis, New York Times Book Review
“The plot unfolds like the Cape Cod season itself… beginning lazily, languidly, before heating up and morphing into a fast-paced thriller.”
— Abbe Wright, O Magazine
“A wonderful novel is like an orchid: smooth, creamy, full of unexpected crevasses. The more you look at it, the more surprising it is. The Last Summer of the Camperdowns, by Canadian writer Elizabeth Kelly, is like that, giving us characters you’ve never seen before, worlds we never knew, crimes we never thought of. Of course, some of us raise horses for the fun of it and run for Congress and may be bona fide movie stars, but not too many, and as purely escapist literature, The Last Summer works beautifully… Really terrific fiction.”
— Carolyn See, Washington Post
Praise for Monhegan
“Serious and thought-provoking, shot through with dark humor and dark observations on religion and faith…The Miracle on Monhegan Island builds slowly from a story about a dysfunctional family to a novel about obsession, religious fervor and mental illness―and the sometimes very fine line between them. Even with a canine storyteller, this is one of the meatier books of the summer.”
— Laurie Hertzel, (Minneapolis) Star Tribune
“Man’s best friend turns out―no spoiler alert needed―to be a most reliable narrator.”
— Stephanie Clifford, New York Times Book Review
“At once touching and humorous.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review)
“Kelly allows her vulnerable, fallible characters to grope toward better understandings of themselves and each other, with Ned acting as their engaging and affectionate chronicler. More terrific work from a writer who gets better with each book.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Praise for Apologize, Apologize!
“An imaginative and energetic triumph. What you hear from the onset of Apologize, Apologize! is the delicious sound of a gifted novelist taking flight for the first time. Even sitting on a table with its covers closed, Elizabeth Kelly's novel seems to buck and heave with its deliriously talkative and unforgivingly articulate characters. (Think of Dostoevsky on laughing gas.)”
— David Gilmour, author of THE FILM CLUB and A FINE NIGHT TO GO TO CHINA
“A warm and wonderful tale with smart, sassy, yet gentle sensitivity. Elizabeth Kelly writes with an original rhythmic style that ushers us in as we turn the first page of this magnificent story of family ties, devotion, understanding and acceptance. I loved this book!”
— Daryl Roth
“Listen up, readers . . . Meet the Flanagans, a quasifunctional family that might give Jonathan Franzen pause . . . Kelly is a clever, witty wordsmith with a penchant for apt if over-the-top metaphors that are laugh-out-loud funny.”
— Booklist
“In this unflinching and funny debut, Elizabeth Kelly deftly paints her tale in alternating shades of lush whimsy and hard-won ferocity. Apologize, Apologize! reads as if Padgett Powell's Edisto had a first cousin from New England who was wealthier, more eccentric, more gothic and more drunk.”
— Mark Winegardner, author of Crooked River Burning and The Godfather Returns
“This novel starts with an enjoyable Celtic kitchen brawl of one-line put-downs in the heart of a family, and then moves its gears, through malice and disaster, to a quiet tone in which the protagonist finally learns to live with himself. It's a tour de force of energy and spirit.”
— Peter Pouncey, author of Rules for Old Men Waiting