★ “Bowring offers endless, rich details about life in Dalton, making a satisfying story of each chapter, expanding the emotional history of the place, yielding great depths of pain behind small, daily gestures of human connection... An impressive debut bursting with detail and love for the town it brings to life.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“An unexpected death touches everyone, a plot point that Bowring confidently steers away from melodrama, landing instead on poignant realism. Readers will want to take their time with this one.”—Publishers Weekly
“Readers will get swept away by the kitchen sink drama of this read — and believe me, there’s plenty of drama to be had here — and will wish that Bowring isn’t done with Dalton and a sequel may be in the works. That’s how powerful her writing is.”—Zachary Houle, Medium
“Impressive for its careful, comprehensive portrait of memory, love, grief, and community, The Road to Dalton encourages acceptance of its flawed characters.”—The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide
“The Road to Dalton is a book to sink into, and invites you to stay a while rather than rushing toward the road out.”—Ilana Masad, Portland Press Herald
“The Road to Dalton is an auspicious debut. Shannon Bowring is operating in Richard Russo and Anne Tyler territory in this hybrid of a novel and interconnected stories.”—Bill Wolfe, Read Her Like an Open Book
“Paved with beauty, grace, humility, and love…a triumphant work that reminds us what literature should be.”—Morgan Talty, author of Night of the Living Rez
“A beautifully written book about love, loss, and community, in a setting that will feel familiar to anyone who grew up in a small, rural town. The characters are written with a loving honesty, and feel achingly real. ...I just can’t recommend it enough.”—Portland Press Herald
“An underrated gem…I was always invested. I loved all of the people of Dalton, even the ones that were not so lovable.”—Sarah's Bookshelves Live Podcast
“The kind of book that too often flies under the literary radar these days: measured, wise, beautiful.”—Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls
“Over and over, The Road to Dalton locates the miraculous in the mundane, then holds it up, glimmering, for the reader to see. In the end it reminds us that, no matter our circumstances, each of us is imbued with a dignity that cannot be denied or taken from us.”—Ron Currie, Jr., author of Everything Matters and The One-Eyed Man
“In wise, tender, sharp-eyed prose, Shannon Bowring illuminates the interlocking lives of rural Mainers in her stunning debut. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end, for its vivid portrait of time and place and its cast of instantly unforgettable characters, all portrayed in glorious and often heartbreaking humanity. Bowring is an immensely talented writer to watch.”—Aaron Hamburger, author of Hotel Cuba and Nirvana Is Here
“A gentle and poignant portrait of small-town life in Maineand of the spoken and unspoken truths that make a community. The Road to Dalton celebrates the better angels of our nature; a story of hope and family from a fresh new voice.”—Cara Hoffman, author of Running and Ruin
“What a rare gift Bowring has for sly humor and nuance as she paints these unforgettable characters in their rawest pain and sweetest joy. A genius, stealthy love story and a beautiful ode to family and friendship.”—Susan Conley, author of Landslide
★ 2023-03-28
A small town in northern Maine is shaken by a young mother’s death.
Bowring’s first novel centers on three couples—two middle-aged and one in their 20s with a new baby—in the fictional town of Dalton in 1990. There’s a lumber mill, library, dive bar, grocery store, and diner. Bowring offers endless, rich details about life in Dalton, making a satisfying story of each chapter, expanding the emotional history of the place, yielding great depths of pain behind small, daily gestures of human connection. This gives the novel the feel of a local lovingly revealing all, carefully charting the tension the characters endure, young and old: “the silent, constant, compulsive guarding of one’s biggest feelings, regrets, and desires.” The town doctor Richard Haskell’s marriage has long been essentially over, and, like a priest, he bears “the weight of other people’s fears and secrets” yet “continues his slow art of healing what can never be healed.” His wife, Trudy, the library director, is in love with Bev Theroux, who’s also married to a man; their husbands know of their love and keep the secret to keep the peace between them and their neighbors, who they know would ostracize the families if the truth were out. Bev’s son, Nate, is an earnest good cop whose wife, Bridget, stopped painting when she became pregnant and feels forced to hide her postpartum depression. Bowring’s prose is alive with careful observation and reminiscent of Bonnie Jo Campbell’s work, though with less edge and a more expansive feel and intimate care for the characters. When Bridget’s sudden death sends grief rippling through everyone’s lives, Bowring creates a portrait of their dignity and their unflinching, if cold, dedication to each other.
An impressive debut bursting with detail and love for the town it brings to life.