Freshwater Road

Praise for Denise Nicholas’s Freshwater Road:

“Surely the best work of fiction about the civil rights movement since Ernest J. Gaines’s The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.” — The Washington Post

“Breathtaking. . . Perhaps the best work of fiction ever done about the civil rights movement.” — Newsday (New York)

“What a wonderful surprise Denise Nicholas’s first novel is. Her textured characters unfold against the background of an historic encounter that was destined to change America forever.” — Sidney Poitier

“Hypnotic. . . [Nicholas] conjures an insidious mood of fear and writes with lyrical prose.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Tensions both physical and psychic inform Freshwater Road by Denise Nicholas, which may well be the finest novel about the civil-rights era. . . . Perhaps Nicholas’s experience as an actress is what endowed her writing with its deep understanding of plot and character. Whatever the source of her talents, in my reading experience, few books have so artfully entwined a coming-of-age saga with the awakening of moral conscience.” — Samuel G. Freedman, The Daily Beast

“In Freshwater Road, Denise Nicholas brings alive all the colors and emotions of the civil rights movement during the perilous adventure that was Freedom Summer.” — Janet Fitch, White Oleander

“Sometimes gorgeous, sometimes terrifying, this novel marks the debut of a talented writer.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Vividly depicts the cost of activism. . . Nicholas has a genuine way with words, a keen grasp of visual and emotional metaphor, and the novel illuminates the internal consequences of institutionalized racism and the often suppressed connections between South and North.” — Chicago Tribune

“With spare, powerful sentences that quietly sneak up on you, Nicholas smoothly transports us to the not-so-distant past for a reflection of the civil rights movement’s subtle triumphs.” — Essence

“Extraordinary. . . Impassioned prose, full-blooded characters, and rich feeling.” — PAGES

“A lovely and arresting novel about class and race in the South.” — Time Out Chicago

“Offers a sensitive and absorbing story of a young woman coming of age emotionally and racially.” — Vanessa Bush, Booklist

“A finely realized and written novel.” — Detroit Free Press

“Accomplished. . . . Nicholas appears poised to have an equally successful second career as a novelist.” — Chicago Reader

“Vivid, intricate, and powerful; a book that will make you squirm with discomfort and dread, breathe with relief, then gasp with outrage. The characters in this book are so real and the events of that Mississippi summer are so well described that i almost felt like I was reading a history book instead of a novel. Pick up a copy of this incredible book. If you ask me what one novel to read this winter, Freshwater Road gets my vote.” — Terri Schlichenmeyer, syndicated columnist