“A rare novel that shows how easily childhood trauma can be internalized and normalized, distorting our coming-of-age. Hall takes us by the hand and walks us through a maze to a better, more hopeful place. An outstanding debut.” –Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet

“Truly original and heartbreaking without being sentimental. I’ve not seen incest written about like this before. We get a brilliant and strange view into it.” –Michael D. Collins, shortlisted for The Booker Prize for Keepers of the Truth

“As I read Alle C. Hall's remarkable novel, I kept hearing the book's title as a question: how far can you go before you have to come back? Before can be anything. Before trauma. Before love. Before letting go.” –Sue William Silverman, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences, winner of The 2021 Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature

“With powerful writing that demands a reader’s attention from the start, Hall navigates the dissociative nature of trauma and the slow, staggered process of healing. A compelling, moving exploration of the often unpredictable paths we take in order to understand ourselves.” —Andrea J. Buchanan, Five-Part Invention, PEN finalist and New York Times bestselling author

"One of the strongest authorial voices I’ve heard in a very long time.” —Anna Quinn, The Night Child and Angeline