Endorsements

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“This is a book in which the writing and the writer are one. Ellen Malphrus is in full control of her craft. Her story is sound, her voice clear and melodic, her perceptions keen, and her characters sharply defined and vital. Untying the Moon is a literary experience of considerable merit, one to be savored and remembered.” —N. Scott Momaday, Pulitzer Prize winning author of House Made of Dawn


Untying the Moon introduces an exciting new voice in Southern fiction. Ellen Malphrus’s kinetic heroine Bailey Martin takes the reader on an eventful, at times bumpy, ride across the continent in a search, ultimately, for the road that leads home.” —Ron Rash, author of Above the Waterfall and Serena


“The dolphin-haunted Carolina coast of Ellen Malphrus’s masterful, lyrical novel Untying the Moon brings us deeply into the natural wonders of the Lowcountry. Like the adventurous and near-mythical wandering heroine Bailey Martin, readers will not be able to resist the magnetic pull of Malphrus’s loving depictions of the landscape, its marvelous inhabitants—both human and animal alike—and its welcoming embrace that always and truly feels like coming home.” —New York Times best-selling author, Mary Alice Monroe


“It’s a delight to make the literary acquaintance of Ellen Malphrus. Her writing is both assured and fresh, grounded in the rich traditions of Southern literature and yet utterly contemporary. Her language is exuberant, her contemplations moving. She’s a great observer of women’s lives and no slouch with portraits of men either. Untying the Moon predicts the start of a long, rich career.” —Valerie Sayers, author of Due East and The Powers


“Ellen Malphrus’ enchanting Bailey Martin was conceived and born in water, and she carries the birthmark of the South Carolina lowlands with her wherever she goes. Bailey, like memorable American literary characters before her, is in motion, lighting out for the territory ahead. As she follows the twists and turns of rivers and ocean shorelines, Bailey must also navigate the convoluted and changing course of her heart. This is a novel about the incomprehensible contradictions and consequences of love and violence. Malphrus’ lush, lyrical language is wedded to her witty yet generous and wise sensibility that hovers over every page. Untying the Moon shapes a sensuous world both magical and very real, a geographical and emotional environment that the reader will never forget.” —Allen Wier, author of Tehano


“This wonderful novel builds beautifully as a young woman, Bailey, makes her way down the East Coast in her beloved car Blue Ruby. The imagery is vividly alive and the ever-changing setting becomes a character, establishing the tone for the book’s journeys of distance and spirit. The ebb and flow of Ellen Malphrus’s lyrical language resembles the movement of the ocean and rivers in Bailey’s life. The story is wonderfully layered and masterfully crafted, making for a fine literary novel and truly a treasure to read.” —Ann Hite, author of Where the Souls Go and Lowcountry Spirit


Untying the Moon is a beautifully written cultural narrative about the never-ending challenges of love and belonging. Ellen captures the power of memory and the call of the magical healing salt marshes of the South Carolina Lowcountry, where it all began.” —Jonathan Green, renowned lowcountry artist