Dear Thorns

“The harsh Texas borderlands provide deep inspiration for Olsson’s insightful and candid portrait of the precariousness of a fragile ecosystem and the vulnerability of the human heart.”
—Carol Haggas, Booklist

“A deft, persuasive depiction of an appealing mind in midlife.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Assured … a clear-eyed look at animals and humans trying to survive in less-than-ideal circumstances.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Dear Thorns is a passionate, intelligent novel of mid-life awakening and reckoning. Every page held me in its grip. Karen Olsson’s prose is exquisite, subtle, and wonderfully evocative.”
—Dana Spiotta, author of Wayward

“Dear Thorns tracks the mysteries of our most complex and vulnerable landscapes—the natural world and human desire. Karen Olsson lays bare her characters’ loves, fears, and trespasses with deep empathy and stunning insight, revealing for her lucky readers the feral and dangerous beauty of our animal hearts.”
—Bret Anthony Johnston, author of Encounters with Unexpected Animals

“Karen Olsson is a brilliant writer. In this haunting, immersive, morally complex novel, she brings us into the world of a wildlife refuge in Texas, capturing the elusive beauty of wild animals and the forceful passion of a woman who cares deeply about them. This is a story that asks big, important questions about how to love the natural world, and how to find our own place within it.”
—Alix Ohlin, author of We Want What We Want and Dual Citizens

“Painted with lush, often poetic detail and dark humor, the landscape of South Texas works its magic of loneliness and desire on the humans and creatures in Dear Thorns.”
—Fernando A. Flores, author of Brother Brontë

Karen Olsson is the author of the novels Waterloo, which was a runner-up for the 2006 PEN/Hemingway Award for First Fiction, and All the Houses.

She has written for The New York Times Magazine, Slate, Bookforum, and Texas Monthly, among other publications, and she is also a former editor of The Texas Observer.

She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in mathematics and lives in Austin, Texas, with her family.

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