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For Immediate Release Publisher of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Tinkers by Paul Harding Media Contact: Molly Mikolowski, (612) 728-1692, [email protected] Announcing Wolf Season, a novel by Helen Benedict 9-CITY* NATIONAL TOUR | MEET THE AUTHOR NEW YORK PROVIDENCE Tues., Oct. 10, 2017 @ 7:30pm | Greenlight Thurs., Oct. 26, 2017 @ 7pm | Brown Bookstore with Matt Gallagher University with Maurice Decaul Sun., Nov. 5, 2017 @ 6pm | Why There Are BOSTON Words reading series at the Bowery Poetry Thurs., Nov. 2, 2017 @ 7pm | Newtonville Club with Owen Lewis, Susan Lewis, Books Meghan O'Rourke, Louise Marburg, and Sarah Van Arsdale ANN ARBOR Tues., Nov. 7, 2017 @ 7pm | Literati Mon., Nov. 13, 2017 @ 7pm | Center for Bookstore Fiction with David Abrams, Cara Hoffman, Matt Gallagher, and Dalia Sofer KANSAS CITY Tues., Nov. 14, 2017 @ 6:30pm | Kansas Sun., Nov. 19, 2017 @ 5pm | BLOOM City Public Library with Whitney Terrell reading series at the Lounge at Hudson View Gardens with Joanne Sills and SEATTLE William Coakley Tues., Nov. 28, 2017 @ 7pm | Elliott Bay Mon., Nov. 20, 2017 @ 7pm | Book Culture Book Company with Cara Hoffman SAN FRANCISCO WASHINGTON, DC Weds., Nov. 29, 2017 @ 7:30pm | The Sun., Oct. 15, 2017 @ 1pm | Politics and Bindery with Ayelet Waldman Prose PORTLAND, OR Thurs., Jan. 4, 2018 @ 7:30pm | Powell’s Books *more cities & events TBA The war comes home in a searingly compassionate story about the wounds inflicted on soldiers, refugees, and their families “[Helen Benedict] has emerged as one of our most thoughtful and provocative writers of war literature.” —DAVID ABRAMS, author of Fobbit and Brave Deeds, at the Quivering Pen After a hurricane devastates a small town in upstate New York, the lives of three women and their young children are irrevocably changed. Rin, an Iraq War veteran, tries to protect her blind daughter and the three wolves under her care. Naema, a widowed doctor who fled Iraq with her wounded son, faces life-threatening injuries and confusion about her feelings for Louis, a veteran and widower harboring his own secrets and guilt. Beth, who is raising a troubled son, waits out her marine husband’s deployment in Afghanistan, equally afraid of him coming home and of him never returning at all. As they struggle to maintain their humanity and find hope, their war-torn lives collide in a way that will affect their entire community. Praise for Wolf Season “Wolf Season is honest about suffering, trauma, and the difficulty of healing after war. [The novel] reminds us that we do what’s best for our family—our pack—even if it’s the thing that hurts the most.” —Chronogram “The novel moves between striking passages that speak war’s truth and heartfelt stories about how women—and mothers—experience war and its aftermath. While there are male soldiers in Wolf Season, women’s experience is at the forefront. Told with honesty and empathy, Wolf Season is a contemporary tale about how the war always comes home.” —Washington Independent Review of Books “Unflinching. In a book that deserves the widest attention, Benedict ‘follows the war home,’ engaging readers with an insightful story right up until the gut-wrenching conclusion.” —Library Journal (starred review) “Affecting. The ‘very long reach of war’ transcends generations.” —Kirkus Reviews “Gripping. A low level of dread builds slowly, drawing readers toward the inevitable climactic clash, though Benedict’s memorable and complicated characterization is the true highlight.” —Publishers Weekly “Compelling. Benedict doesn’t shy away from her characters’ very different faults as they grasp for courage and resilience during their dark times.” —Booklist “[Benedict is] at the top of her game here. The wolves indeed have the last word in Wolf Season, much as do the dogs in David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. Benedict’s final chapter is appropriately titled ‘Howl,’ which brings to mind Allen Ginsberg and his poem of the same name—with its line ‘monstrous bombs!’ in canto II. Yet perhaps Ginsberg’s line from one of his other poems, ‘America,’ best sums it all up: ‘America when will we end the human war?’ Helen Benedict’s Wolf Season certainly gives us ample reasons to consider doing so.” —Woven Tale Press “Gives readers a deep sense of what it takes to survive and the terrible toll war and loneliness extracts not only on those who go to war but also those waiting at home.” —North of Oxford “Wolf Season takes contemporary war-and-mil-writing preoccupation with dogs to its fantastical-yet-logical extension. Rin and Naema are compellingly drawn, as are Rin’s daughter Juney and Naema’s son Tariq and the three wolves, Gray, Silver, and Ebony. Most striking, however, are two male characters, Louis Martin and Todd Wycombe, both veterans struggling to be men worthy of respect.” —Time Now “A novel of love, loss, and survival, Wolf Season delves into the complexities and murk of the after-war with blazing clarity. You will come to treasure these characters for their strengths and foibles alike. Helen Benedict has delivered yet again, and contemporary war literature is much the better for it.” —MATT GALLAGHER, author of Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War and Youngblood “Fierce and vivid and full of hope, this story of trauma and resilience, of love and family, of mutual aid and solidarity in the aftermath of a brutal war is nothing short of magic. Helen Benedict is the voice of an American conscience that has all too often been silenced. To read these pages is to be transported to a world beyond hype and propaganda to see the human cost of war up close. This is not a novel that allows you to walk away unchanged.” —CARA HOFFMAN, author of Be Safe I Love You and Running “The Iraq War. Disability. Women on and off the battlefield. AND WOLVES! . [An] extraordinary new novel.” —CAROLINE LEAVITT, author of Pictures of You and Cruel Beautiful World, at Carolineleavittville “No one writes with more authority or cool-eyed compassion about the experience of women in war both on and off the battlefield than Helen Benedict. In Wolf Season, she shows us the complicated ways in which the lives of those who serve and those who don't intertwine and how—regardless of whether you are a soldier, the family of a soldier, or a refugee—the war follows you and your children for generations. Wolf Season is more than a novel for our times; it should be required reading.” —ELISSA SCHAPPELL, author of Use Me and Blueprints for Building Better Girls Select Praise for Helen Benedict, Sand Queen, and The Lonely Soldier “A most entertaining and accomplished writer.” —OSCAR HIJUELOS, author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love and Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise On Sand Queen “This is The Things They Carried for women in Iraq.” —Boston Globe “If you missed out on serving in the Iraq War, you can, if you’re willing, be catapulted right into the midst of some of its more challenging moments courtesy of Ms. Benedict’s gutsy prose. Sand Queen [is] a novel that will leave you deeply unsettled if not shaken to the root of your being.” —Herald-Dispatch “Told in compellingly vivid detail with the clear ring of truth every step of the way.” —Free Lance-Star “[A] completely heartbreaking, vivid story of the particular difficulties of being not just a soldier, but a female soldier.” —Bustle “In writing what might be the first major woman’s war story and alternating points of view between opposing sides, [Benedict] has created something enormously fresh and immediate.” —Chronogram “[Benedict] is an exceptional writer and storyteller. Her gritty depiction of a soldier’s life in the Iraq desert is particularly well done.” —New York Journal of Books “Benedict’s writing is impressive, passionate, and visceral. Reading this book is the best literary path to understanding the particular challenges of being female in the military during warfare.” —Publishers Weekly “Best Contemporary War Novel” citation “Funny, shocking, painful, and, at times, deeply disturbing, Sand Queen takes readers beyond the news and onto the battlefield.” —Booklist “An eye-opening glimpse into a life that many Americans have never seen.” —Library Journal “A convincing and affecting portrait of two resilient young women caught up in war.” —Shelf Awareness “Every war eventually yields works of art which transcend politics and history and illuminate our shared humanity. Helen Benedict’s brilliant new novel has done just that with this century’s American war in Iraq. Sand Queen is an important book by one of our finest literary artists.” —ROBERT OLEN BUTLER, author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain and Perfume River “Every American who claims to value the lives of our soldiers should read this powerful, harrowing, and revelatory novel.” —VALERIE MARTIN, author of The Ghost of Mary Celeste and Sea Lovers “Helen Benedict’s compelling story provides an intimate picture of what it means to be a soldier, what it’s like to live on the battlefield, and what the ethical choices are that our troops have had to make in Iraq. At times funny, at times grimly painful, Sand Queen offers a new chapter in contemporary American history.” —ROXANA ROBINSON, author of Cost and Sparta On The Lonely Soldier “It’s outrageously immoral that our female soldiers have to fear many of the male soldiers they serve with, as well as being let down by the very Veterans Affairs system that’s supposed to help them out. Thanks to Helen Benedict, the world is watching!” —ROSEANNE BARR, Emmy Award–winning actor “The Lonely Soldier is an important book, a crucial accounting of the shameful war on women who gave their bodies, lives, and souls for their country.” —EVE ENSLER, author of The Vagina Monologues and In the Body of the World “No matter your politics, this book is vital.

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