Sugar Land

A novel of a lesbian coming of age in Depression-era small-town Texas: “The love child of Fannie Flagg and Rita Mae Brown . . . [a] ravishing debut.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

It's 1923 in Midland, Texas, and Miss Dara falls in love with her best friend―who also happens to be a girl. Terrified, Miss Dara takes a job at the Imperial State Prison Farm for men. Once there, she befriends inmate and soon-to-be legendary blues singer Lead Belly, who sings his way out (true story)―but only after he makes her promise to free herself from her own prison…

“The story takes many delightful twists and turns, always described succinctly and colorfully by this narrator, who is irresistible even on days when she's ‘retaining enough water to grow rice in Arizona’ . . . A postcard of small-town Texas life from Prohibition through civil rights, tracing the treatment and awareness of gay people through these decades.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“How can you not adore a novel about love, food, and how working in a prison can help you discover who you really are? Every page has a beating heart; every character is so alive, you swear you hear them breathing. Stoner is an original and this debut is just fantastic.” —Caroline Leavitt, *New York Times–*bestselling author of With or Without You