FOUR STARS for MARLENA!

With FOUR phenomenal starred reviews and tons of acclaim, Julie Buntin’s MARLENA is the electric debut novel of 2017 you’ve been looking for!

A Barnes & Noble Spring 2017 Discover pick

One of Publishers Weekly‘s Most Anticipated Spring 2017 Debuts

An April 2017 Indie Next pick

“In Buntin’s vivid debut, Cath, now a New York City public librarian in her thirties, tells the story of the friendship that changed her forever. Though Cath tells her story in flashbacks, Buntin’s prose is emotional and immediate, and the interior lives she draws of young women and obsessive best friends are Ferrante-esque.” — Booklist, starred review

“In her impressive debut novel, Buntin displays a remarkable control of tone and narrative arc. Buntin is particularly sensitive to the misery of adolescent angst, and Cat’s growing happiness in Marlena’s friendship runs like an electric wire through the narrative. The novel is poignant and unforgettable, a sustained eulogy for Marlena’s ‘glow… that lives in lost things, that sets apart the gone forever.’” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Sensitive and smart and arrestingly beautiful, debut novelist Buntin’s tale of the friendship between two girls in the woods of Northern Michigan makes coming-of-age stories feel both urgent and new. Devastating; as unforgettable as it is gorgeous.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Buntin perfectly captures a burning and essential friendship with lasting consequences and that terrible moment when we make a wrong turn and can’t go back. An exceptional portrait, disturbing and precisely observed; highly recommended.” — Library Journal, starred review

MARLENA will be available from Henry Holt & Co. on April 4, 2017.