The Grove

★ “Luminous prose relays the protagonist’s satisfying emotional growth over the course of Phillips’s potent tale of love and loyalty.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ “Phillips’s writing is vivid and thoughtful as she tackles the bonds of sisterhood and first love, poverty, and socioeconomic bigotry, producing fully formed characters and leaving no question of motivation or actions in their wake. A triumph in historical fiction.” —SLJ, starred review

“The orange-grove setting and the desolate life of isolated, impoverished Florida farmers are well-delineated. Most characters … are drawn with nuance.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Beautiful writing, subtle brushstrokes depicting lives of isolation and despair with pinpoint accuracy, and a love between two young people too pure for this world.” —Booklist

“An aching, gorgeous story about figuring out your own dreams while in the shadow of a conventionally beautiful older sister. I loved The Grove, and the voices of Pip and Sissy will stay with me for a long time.”
—Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of The Evening Hero

“This is a beautiful novel! I am haunted by the heavy sweetness of the orange grove, and all it gives and takes away.”
—Cynthia Salaysay, author of Private Lessons

“An exquisite story exploring choices and the lack of them for Pip and her hardscrabble family. A gifted writer, Pip lives in the shadow of her beautiful sister in a rural Florida town so vividly captured that you can smell its bitter limitations, as well as the sisters’ sweet longings, birthed among the family’s soured orange grove. This heartfelt story touches on classism, racism, the fallout of dreams deferred and the splendor of hope and forgiveness.”
—Robin Farmer, author of Malcolm and Me

Brooks Whitney Phillips is a freelance writer and author. She wrote a syndicated column and feature stories on music and the arts for the Chicago Tribune, is the author of eight middle grade books, and contributes design and travel stories to national magazines. She is the recipient of the Key West Literary Seminar’s Marianne Russo Award for novel-in-progress, and is co-founder of the Rowland Writers Retreat, which hosts and funds ten annual residencies for women authors. She lives in Key West, Florida and Saugatuck, Michigan.

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