Past Darkness

“Ostensibly, Woiwode weaves a tender, slow-burning story of death, grief, and rebirth, but really, it’s her intoxicating love-letter descriptions of a windswept North Dakotan prairie and its inhabitants that will sweep you off your feet. A moving tale about the resilience of family relationships and the power of memory, Past Darkness insists on the goodness of humankind and unravels a tale, brimming with love and hope, to prove it.”

Elissa Elliott

“Beautifully haunting, sublime yet profound, Laurel Woiwode's debut novel is the truest of romances: the romance between the individual soul and the Father’s persistent love and healing.”

John L. Moore

“A profound story of sudden, devastating loss and the tenuous, graceful process of healing and redemption. The characters who move through this powerful first novel are as complex or nuanced as the people who move through our lives; you will remember Gabrielle Larson, Uncle Will, Aunt Bea, and Ian Mackenzie long after you turn the final page. You will remember the places they inhabit as well. Woiwode evokes rural North Dakota with the tender confidence that comes only when a writer knows the shape of a place as well as she knows the shape of her hand. From one lucid sentence to the next, she illuminates the intimate mysteries of the natural world, and invites us to share in its expansive beauty.”

Karen Halvorsen Schreck