“The extraordinary order exerted here, the Herculean effort at reconstruction, and the great erudition on display all add up to something like a miracle in light of the unraveling so powerfully evoked in the “field notes.” Against the backdrop of several affecting stories—a family’s history, a romance that leads to a lifelong love, and the evolution of an absorbing consciousness—we encounter the heroic grace with which the author meets her fate head on. Saunders’ assertion of will in the face of oblivion takes on a lyrical grandeur as it heads toward its gorgeous conclusion, with shades of Molly Bloom’s emphatic affirmations to close out Ulysses.” – Matthew Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of We Are Not Ourselves