Grove Press
Grove Press
Grove Press
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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.
“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 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
“Beautifully written and quietly forceful, Evanthia Bromiley’s debut novel, Crown, shines with compassion for all of its characters in their perilous conditions. They fashion from the landscape what is missing. They dream homes and wear small crowns ‘woven of juniper and wild oak and the spare things of the desert.’ Bromiley’s book is concise and musical, and she has the heart of a poet.”—Christine Schutt, author of Pure Hollywood
“Any writer who so creatively, poetically, and energetically ventriloquizes the gorgeous voices of children, and their mother, has my attention, respect, and gratitude. Hurray for Evanthia Bromiley!”—Eliza Minot, author of In The Orchard
“A propulsive, deeply humane debut. Crown immerses us in a world both vivid and dreamlike, alongside characters whose darkest days – carefully rendered – become luminous.”—Anna Noyes, author of The Blue Maiden
“Lyrical, unflinching, and emotionally compelling. Evanthia Bromiley has a particular strength in the way she portrays this family in jeopardy, never skimping on their emotional lives, but instead creating complex, layered scenes and moments of deep characterization. She has found opportunities to render beauty within otherwise bleak circumstances.”—Dominic Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Painting of Sara de Vos
“Here is a writer who clearly has studied many great novels and then emerged with a voice wholly her own; a voice that shimmers with the kind of verve and light that arrives when a writer finds her true subject, then fearlessly accepts the challenge of writing about it.”—Dean Bakopoulos, author of Summerlong
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?
6. In what ways is sexuality portrayed in the novel? How do the characters’ experiences with love, desire, and intimacy reflect their emotional needs or social realities? How does the author use these moments to deepen our understanding of the characters?
7. A central theme in the story is that of falling—whether emotionally, socially, or physically. Analyze how the author uses symbolism throughout the novel to deepen this theme. For example, what is the significance of Jude’s tattoos?
8. Why do you think Evan is so focused on making an offer to You, his unborn sister? What might the act of abandoning the model home— “Drop the tiny house on the ground. Step on it. Smash it” (p. 230)—symbolize, and how do you think this shapes what he will offer her next?
9. Child narrators in adult fiction are often used to question things that adults may overlook or take for granted. In Crown, Evan and Virginia take turns narrating the story. How did experiencing the novel from their perspective influence the way you viewed the events of the story? Discuss the advantages and limitations of having young narrators in a book dealing with complex issues.
10. In an interview, Bromiley has shared the inspiration for setting the novel in the blue-collar Southwest: “Land like this does something to the imagination.” What do you think she means by that? How does the environment influence the characters’ experiences, and in what ways does it help build a sense of community?
11. Coming-of-age novels typically explore themes of self-discovery, conflict, loss of innocence, and exposure to the outside world. Using examples from Crown, assess how the novel both reflects and challenges the conventions of the genre.
12. In the absence of a father, the twins use their imagination to make “the best one [come] to life” and shape him into “what you need” (p. 190). How does this absence affect the twins? What does it reveal about their resilience and how they cope with their situation?
13. After her assault by the older boy in the park, Virginia tells her mother, “But I wanted to kill them, Mom” (p. 102). How do the characters respond to violence and tragedy in the novel? Do their reactions surprise you? What do those moments reveal about who they are—or who they are becoming?
14. What do you think of Jude’s choice to leave her children alone in the car while she gives birth? Did she truly have no other options? Could she have turned to someone like the Sleepless Man or Betty for help? What might you have done in her place?
15. While Jude is in the ER waiting to have her baby, she meets two other patients: Dorothy, who is near the end of her life, and Simon, who is just beginning his. In what ways does Dorothy serve as a foil for Simon? How do their contrasting experiences help reveal something deeper about Jude and her situation?
16. In the closing chapter, “The Park Watches,” what stood out to you about how the story ends? Were you surprised by the ending? Discuss how the community comes together to protect the twins and the role the park plays in their lives. What do you think it means when Jude “pulls the sheet up and over them both and makes for herself and her child a roof” (p. 259)? How does this final image speak to the themes of shelter, resilience, and care?
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Abundance by Jakob Guanzon
Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen
Bear by Julia Phillips
Foster by Claire Keegan
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
Only Smoke by Juan José Millás
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes
Two-Step Devil by Jamie Quatro
We the Animals by Justin Torres
When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar
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