The Sweetheart Season: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) - Softcover

"Ms. Fowler's willingness to take detours, her unapologetic delight in the
odd historical fact, her shadowy humor, and the elegant unruliness of her
language all elevate her story from the picaresque to the grand."

--The New York Times Book Review

"A combination of inquiry, skepticism, and sympathy voiced with a zany
appeal, a hint of magic...Its flavor is tart, comic, and unreliable."

--The Los Angeles Times

"Smart, wry, and just this side of insane...A remarkable
treasure...Enchanting."

--The Washington Post

"The Sweetheart Season is the sort of novel that makes the reader
want to meet the author....The characters are entertaining and
well-defined. The plot twists are unexpected, and Fowler's witty writing
is a joy to read."

--USA Today

"The Sweetheart Season is full of sparkling wit and flat-out good
writing about a town where someone can be suspected of putting on airs
simply by sporting an 'out of town haircut.' In territory long staked out
by Garrison Keillor, Fowler's book reads like the best of Lake Wobegon and
then some."

--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"The Sweetheart Season is a brilliantly evoked re-creation of the
post-war period in small-town America, filled with well-drawn
characters....A complex mixture of generosity and skepticism, a warm
meditation on and paean to those most romantic American traits: the
propensity for optimism in reduced circumstances, a gullible faith in the
unexpectedness and persistence of love, and an unshakable sense of irony
that is large enough to embrace both humor and affection."

--San Francisco Chronicle

"Fowler loves raising questions about where reality ends and imagination
begins....If you're willing to take chances on writers who color outside
the lines, try Fowler. She's a true original and one of the funniest
people currently writing in the English language."

--Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Fowler's authentically detailed and clever novel is frequently
digressive, but the digressions charm. Deadpan irony ('The Baldishes had
been among the first to explore decorating with deer') and quirky
characters worthy of Dickens raise the entertainment quotient....Fowler
depicts our nation's past as more surreal than real while at the same time
slamming her book out of the ballpark."

--Publishers Weekly