A boldly written mystery suspense novel revolving around the arrival of Tess, a deaf woman running from her past, who unwittingly sets into motion a chain of disturbing events as she is forced to share her secrets with the strangers around her. Tess's presence upsets the status quo amongst the residents of a small town in Pennsylvania, none more so than for Cap, the pastor of the local church whose life has been marred by tragedy. The morning a dead body is found outside the church, life as the town knows it is forever changed.
In the vein of Big Little Lies, both the killer and the identity of the victim is concealed until the climactic end, but everyone, including Tess and Cap, has a motive. Maggie, an unmoored woman who numbs reality with pharmaceuticals and strange crimes; Wade, whose philandering ways are town gossip; Butch, a teenager struggling over his parents’ divorce and his own identity; and Robin, who is desperate for a way out of her marriage to Chuck, a violent man driven by self-loathing.
Written in Gailey’s critically-acclaimed style, Come Away From Her portrays its characters with compelling nuances, peeling back layer after layer until we discover the truth about a murder and its aftermath in a series of brilliant twists.
early buzz
In Samuel W. Gailey’s Come Away From Her, there is a murder. But that’s not the point of this beautifully written story. At the heart of the novel is an important question: How do we heal from the wounds of our past? Gailey offers a cast of characters so perfectly human in their frailties that we can’t help but feel for them deeply as they struggle toward forgiveness. Seldom does a book come along as lovely, poignant, and compelling as this one. Do your soul a favor. Read this novel.
— William Kent Krueger
New York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land, Ordinary Grace
Sharp and unsettling, Come Away From Her peels back the layers of deceit in a small town with plenty of darkness to hide. Gailey presents the reader with a violent death in the first few pages, then goes back to trace the sequence of events that starts with the arrival in town of a mysterious woman, events that no one in the town of Black Walnut can escape. The climactic reveal feels both shocking and inevitable in this tense and vividly drawn read.
—Sarah Stewart Taylor
author of the Maggie D’arcy series
In Come Away From Her, Samuel W. Gailey sustains the tension at such a pitch that it's hard to look away for even a second. Gailey's prose is muscular and melodic; his characters are full of humanity. This book hits like a thunderbolt.
— William Boyle
Shoot the Moonlight Out, City of Margins
This touching novel from Gailey (Deep Winter, The Guilt We Carry) eloquently conveys melancholy and repressed emotions…distinctive, well-realized characters…this tale of the inner turmoil of sad people who feel trapped in their lives will resonate more with mainstream fiction readers.
—Publishers Weekly
Come Away From Her is a more serious type of Big Little Lies, but still very compelling. You can’t help but feel for the characters in their brokenness, just trying to make it through life. As the tale comes to its shocking conclusion, the reader is left to decide if there is justice or redemption to be found in this town.
If you enjoyed Big Little Lies and also appreciate the slow burn of a good story, this is for you. While the book is short, you learn a lot about the characters and why they are the way they are. I think it will be worth your while.
—Seattle Book Review
In the small town of Wyalusing, a woman is found brutally murdered one winter night. Next to the body is Danny Bedford, a misunderstood man who suffered a tragic brain injury that left him with limited mental capabilities. Despite his simple life, his intimidating size has caused his neighbors to ostracize him out of fear of what he may do. So when the local bully-turned-deputy discovers Danny with the body, it's obvious that Danny’s physical strength has finally become deadly. But in the long, freezing night that follows, the murder is only the first in a series of crimes that viciously upset the town order--an unstoppable chain of violence that appears to make Danny’s guilt undeniable. With the threat of an approaching blizzard, the local sheriff and a state trooper work through the predawn hours to restore some semblance of order to Wyalusing. As they investigate one unspeakable incident after another, they discover an intricate web of lies revealing that not everything is quite what it seems.
“Beautifully written but deeply disturbing.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Enthralling and suspenseful…” —Esquire Magazine
“So brilliantly done, so artfully underwritten with not a word wasted…”— Booklist
Since the tragic accident that brutally ended her childhood, Alice O’Farrell has been haunted by her past. After her complicity in her younger brother’s death, Alice runs away from home, lives on the streets, and drowns her guilt with alcohol. Everything changes
when she finds a duffel bag containing nearly one hundred thousand dollars and seizes the opportunity to make a new life. However, Alice quickly finds herself having to escape circumstances far more harrowing than her own past. Sinclair, the rightful owner of the
duffle bag, wants his money back, and a merciless manhunt ensues. Sinclair is a formidable opponent, relentless, shrewd, and brutal. When the lives of those closest to her are threatened, Alice is eventually faced with her day of reckoning. In the end, The Guilt We Carry is a story about redemption and forgiveness, but at what cost?
“With a Cormac McCarthyan pair of bad guys...Fans of country noir will be right at home as Gailey builds the grit-soaked suspense.”—Booklist
“A gripping tale of redemption…Gailey does a superior job of making his flawed lead sympathetic.”—Publishers Weekly
“…the Breaking Bad of the book world.”―New York Journal of Books