When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed

‘Bradley Greenburg holds up to the light what may be our keynote American dilemma — the racial tensions that trailed the Civil War — and he turns it into an inventive and thrilling heartbreak. Here is a novel with 20/20 detail vision: it sees every particular of small-town life, business and family, identity and home. Clayton McGhee is one of the signature characters in contemporary historical fiction.’

Darin Strauss, Chang & Eng and Half a Life

‘Set at a time when race relations were particularly complicated, in that they were still being negotiated after the abolition of slavery, it shows us an America that does not know what kind of country it is going to be in the future, and how factors like loyalty, privilege, fear and pressure to conform all played their part.’

Alastair Mabbott, The Herald

‘Vivid and compelling.’

Victoria Best, Shiny New Books

‘A rich exploration of the relationships between fathers and sons set in an America where some people, no matter what President Lincoln might say, will never get used to the idea that humans cannot be owned, sold or traded.’

Book Oxygen

‘A worthy historical-fiction exploration of the African-American struggle for freedom.’

Kirkus

‘This historical combines the pleasures of old-fashioned storytelling with the sobering and ever-needed reminder of the price of racial hatred.’

Library Journal