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“A book built of deep suspense, a survival story of the first order . . . Evanthia Bromiley writes at the intersection of poverty and motherhood better than almost anyone I know. Crown is an astonishing, revelatory first novel.” —Emily Fridlund

SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE JOHN LEONARD FIRST BOOK PRIZE, THE READING THE WEST BOOK AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION, THE HIGH PLAINS BOOK AWARD, AND THE JANET HEIDINGER KAFKA PRIZE

BRONZE WINNER FOR THE 2026 IPPY FIRST BOOK AWARD

LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER OF FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE

A suspenseful, lyrical debut novel tracking three days leading up to the eviction of a pregnant single mother and her nine-year-old twins from a trailer park in the American Southwest.

Jude Woods is on the brink of eviction. Pregnant, jobless, and mother to Evan and Virginia, she has three days to box up her family’s life and find a safe place to live. In the Woods’ quiet trailer park, neighbors keep to themselves, but it’s no secret Jude and her twins are in jeopardy—the eviction notice slapped on their front door like a white shout.

When Jude’s contractions flare just as their power is shut off, she rushes to the hospital instructing Evan and Virginia to hide in their car in the surrounding fields. If the children are discovered outside alone, they will be taken from her. Jude labors through the night in a crowded emergency room while the twins, desperate in the heat of the cramped car and spurred by their wild imaginations, strike out along the dangerous riverbank in search of a new home for their growing family. As night hurtles toward the morning lockout, both mother and children reckon with what it means to live and dream in a modern America insistent on slamming doors.

Poetic and distinct, the voices of the three Woods open to a chorus of waitresses and oil men, veterans and graffiti artists as Crown trawls the laundromats, public bus systems, and waiting rooms of a forgotten blue-collar city. In this mesmerizing, singular debut, the tenacious spirit of a young family and their community comes to profound and moving life.

Evanthia Bromiley is a graduate of the Warren Wilson M.F.A. Program for Writers and the recipient of scholarships from the Aspen Institute, a Lighthouse Fellowship, a Lisel Mueller scholarship and Elizabeth George and Carol Houck-Smith awards. Her short fiction and creative non-fiction can be found in AGNI, Prairie Schooner, Five Points, and elsewhere. When not writing, she works in impacted schools with young writers and their teachers as they sharpen their craft and voices, telling stories of growing up in the American Southwest. She lives in Durango, Colorado.