“Mournful, epic, revelatory: The Walls Are Closing in On Us tells the life of one man scaled against a world and time more richly drawn than any I've read in years. Brown writes with uncommon grace, weaving a tapestry of memory and regret so real you can feel it in your bones. This has the wonder and sorrow of Denis Johnson's Train Dreams and the raw power of classic Southern fiction. A sweeping evocation of a lost time and a forgotten life.”

-Kent Wascom, author of the Washington Post’s and NPR’s best book of the year, The Blood of Heaven

"With traces of Paul Harding's Tinkers and Denis Johnson's Train Dreams, The Walls are Closing In On Us is a moving novel about racial tensions, segregation, and coming of age in a rapidly changing America. This is a book that examines not only the soul of a man but—perhaps—the soul of a nation."

- Austin Ross, author of Gloria Patri

“Joshua Trent Brown delivers something special with his debut novel, The Walls Are Closing In On Us. Part Donna Tartt, part Thomas Wolfe, wrapped in a Stoner-esque search for purpose... This remarkable novel grips you and makes you hope for another page waiting with every turn. Without doubt, the best book we’ve read this year.”

-Grit Quarterly