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.

Praise for Crown:

Shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard First Book Prize
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction 2025 First Novel Prize
An Alta Best Book of the Year

“Virginia and Evan’s quest to get home through unknown territory builds to a taut climax that will leave readers breathless. Bromiley is also a master of the rhythms and realities of working-class life, in which keeping yourself together is a daily negotiation with bureaucracy and a chafing reminder that others have it worse. Though this is a story of contemporary life, it lives within the rich tradition of the literature and song of American struggle. This could be a story of the Dust Bowl or a city shelter; Jude could be the mother in Dorothea Lange’s indelible photo. Full of ordinary royalty, shining with the triumph of staying human and extending grace even in deprivation.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A beautiful story rife with realism and hope.”—Lily Hunter, Booklist

“Bromiley’s novel shimmers . . . full of artistry, a poet’s rendering of an ordinary desperation.”—Sara Beth West, Shelf Awareness

“Bromiley’s debut novel takes place over the course of three suspenseful days in the life of Jude Woods, a 25-year-old pregnant and unemployed mother, and her kids, Evan and Virginia . . . Bromiley carries the reader through this precariousness with her gentle attention to language and an intimate familiarity with the psyches of children.”—Alta

“Bromiley’s bold ensemble story vibrates with light and humanity.”—Stefanie Milligan, Christian Science Monitor 

“This is a book of poetry, every sentence offering up gifts. It is also a book built of deep suspense, a survival story of the first order. An evicted mother must leave her two children alone in the world while she goes to the hospital to give birth, and through the crucible of this crisis, each voice in this novel comes alive with ferocious originality and tenderness. 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, author of History of Wolves

“Jude is, in the aftermath of the pandemic, struggling to keep her children sheltered and fed—and to navigate the grinding bureaucracy of poverty. Evanthia Bromiley is brilliant on the brutal poetry of daily life, the quicksilver imaginations of children, and the cavernous depths of a mother’s love. Crown is an astonishing debut.”—Laura van den Berg, author of State of Paradise

“Aroar with heart, steeled by poetic acuity, Crown reads like an epic of commonplace strife, granting both dignity and a fierce new voice to the mothers and children relegated to the margins of modern America. With this debut, Evanthia Bromiley has already cemented herself as the literary heir to Lucia Berlin.”—Jakob Guanzon, author of Abundance

Reading Group Guide

Written by Keturah Jenkins for Crown.

1. The dramatis personae, or the persons of the drama is a list of characters typically found at the beginning of a narrative work. This literary device helps readers understand and follow the plot more easily. Did you find the list helpful? Explain your answer.

2. Consider the title Crown and reflect on what it means to you. Examine the chapter titled “Crowning”—who is being crowned, and why? Explore the different meanings of the word crown. Do any of these other definitions apply to the story as a whole? Support your answer with examples from the novel.

3. Crown captures a pivotal moment in the life of a young family facing the uncertainties of being unhoused. Consider how the opening chapter, “Eviction,” sets the tone for the rest of the novel. Jude reflects, “Everything I love in this world has been cut from me, and this place will be no different” (p. 7). What does this quote reveal about her life up to this point? How does the chapter offer insight into the lives of Jude and her twins, Evan and Virginia?

4. Virginia and Evan, both nine years old, are navigating the challenges of self-discovery in a hostile world. Evan is described as “raven-silent and dreaming,” while Virginia is “shrieking, golden” (p. 13). In what ways are they different, and how are they the same? How do they function as a team? Explore how their bond and identities evolve throughout the novel.

5. On page 75, Virginia says, “Just tell yourself that: I’m good. I’m only tired.” What effect does the Sleepless Man have on the characters, especially the twins? What do you think his presence means to them? How would you describe his friendship with Evan and Virginia, and why do you think it matters in the story?