Synopses & Reviews
From one of America’s most accomplished and acclaimed fiction writers, a chilling, spectacularly riveting novel based on a real life multiple murder by a con man who preyed on widows—a story that has haunted Jayne Anne Phillips for more than four decades.Jayne Anne Phillips’s debut collection, Black Tickets, galvanized critics and readers when it was published in 1979 and announced her as one of the great new voices of her generation. Her four novels, prizewinners and reader favorites, have secured her place as one of America’s most celebrated storytellers. In Quiet Dell, Phillips re-imagines a gruesome crime in a tiny West Virginia community not far from where she grew up.
In Chicago in 1931, Asta Eicher, mother of three, is lonely and despairing, pressed for money after the sudden death of her husband. She begins to receive seductive letters from a chivalrous, elegant man named Harry Powers, who promises to cherish and protect her, ultimately to marry her and to care for her and her children. Weeks later, the family are dead.
Emily Thornhill, one of the few women in the Chicago press, covers the case and becomes deeply invested in understanding what happened to this beautiful family, particularly to the youngest child, Annabel, an enchanting girl with a precocious imagination and sense of magic. Bold and intrepid, Emily allies herself with the Chicago banker who funds the investigation and who is wracked by guilt for not saving Asta. Driven by secrets of their own, the heroic characters in this magnificent tale will stop at nothing to ensure that Powers is convicted. A mesmerizing retelling of a harrowing crime, Quiet Dell is a tour de force of obsession and imagination.
Review
and#8220;In a brilliant fusion of fact and fiction, Jayne Anne Phillips has written the novel of the year. Itand#8217;s the story of a serial killerand#8217;s crimes and capture, yes, but it's also a compulsively readable story of how one brave woman faces up to acts of terrible violence in order to create something good and strong in the aftermath. andlt;iandgt;Quiet Dellandlt;/iandgt; will be compared to andlt;iandgt;In Cold Bloodandlt;/iandgt;, but Phillips offers something Capote could not: a heroine who lights up the dark places and gives us hope in our humanity.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;andlt;iandgt;Quiet Dellandlt;/iandgt; has all the elements of a murder mystery, but its emotional scope is larger and more complex. It combines a strange, hypnotic and poetic power with the sharp tones of documentary evidence. It offers a portrait of rural America in a time of crisis and dramatizes the lives of a number of characters who are fascinating and memorable.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;In andlt;iandgt;Quiet Dellandlt;/iandgt;, andlt;Bandgt;Phillips mesmerizingly spins together fact and fictionandlt;/Bandgt;, vividly imagining the circumstances leading to their deaths, and sets a young female reporter on the case to solve it.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Jayne Anne Phillipsand#8217;s unsettling latest, andlt;iandgt;Quiet Dellandlt;/iandgt;, spins out from a true crime story involving a 1930s-era-seducerand#8212;think Robert Mitchum in andlt;iandgt;The Night of the Hunterandlt;/iandgt;and#8212;who preys on a widow and her children.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;andlt;Bandgt;Jayne Anne Phillips is one of the finest pure stylists in contemporary literatureandlt;/Bandgt;, and sheand#8217;s found a story that sounds like a perfect match for her talents.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Phillipsand#8217;s prose is as andlt;Bandgt;haunting andlt;/Bandgt;as the questions she raises about the natures of sin, evil and grace.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;andlt;Bandgt;Phillipsand#8217;s plot is engaging, romantic, and fecundandlt;/Bandgt;; her characters are beautiful, accomplished, and goodand#8212;except for the bad guy, who is very bad indeed.and#8221;
Review
andlt;divandgt;"The truth of all of Phillips' characterizations is what lies behind this careful novel's compelling momentum."andlt;/divandgt;
Review
andlt;divandgt;"A mesmerizing novel drawn from the annals of infamous true crime...Meticulous, engrossing and spellbinding."andlt;/divandgt;
Review
and#8220;[andlt;i andgt;Quiet Dellandlt;/iandgt;and#8217;s] success is due to a bold decision: Ms. Phillips has written a serial killer novel in which the serial killer hardly appearsand#8230;.Unabashedand#8230;andlt;b andgt;There is a glowing beauty to the bookand#8217;s brave, generous version of historyandlt;/bandgt;.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Sometimes eerie and dreamlike, others grippingly tense, yet warmly human, always written with beauty and emotional power, andlt;b andgt;andlt;i andgt;Quiet Dellandlt;/iandgt; is a virtuoso performance by a highly original writerandlt;/bandgt;.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Phillipsand#8217;s effort to do justice and#8212; aesthetic and moral and#8212; to the victims feels bold and honorable...andlt;bandgt;moving, even transportingandlt;/bandgt;and#8230;Phillips allows her own ample gifts to soar.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Compellingand#8230;Richly imaginedand#8230;Phillipsand#8217;s achievement is to reveal how intimately cruelty and kindness unfold.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;An andlt;bandgt;extraordinary achievementandlt;/bandgt;, a mesmerizing blend of fact and fiction that borrows from the historical record, including trial transcripts and newspaper accounts, but is cloaked in the shimmering language of a poet.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Phillipsand#8217; extensive reportingand#8212;she quotes from newspaper stories, letters between Eicher and her and#8216;suitorand#8217; and the trial transcriptand#8212;gives the book its considerable heft. And her creation of a Chicago reporter named Emily Thornhill helps to frame the story of the eight-decade-old event in a fresh way. andlt;b andgt;andlt;iandgt;Quiet Dellandlt;/iandgt; is a smart combination of true crime, history and fiction tied together with Phillipsand#8217; seamlessly elegant writingandlt;/bandgt;and#8230;.As the book proceeds to its dark conclusion, Emily offers readers a glimpse of light.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Phillips, an acclaimed writer of largely contemporary fiction, this time draws on history: a criminal case from the early '30s.and#8230;But andlt;b andgt;if the factual underpinnings of this latest novel are unusual for Phillips, her ability to transform them into a fictionalized narrative place her at the top of her formandlt;/bandgt;. Phillips has carefully inserted imagined private moments and just a few fictional characters to create a story both splendid and irreparably sadand#8230; As Phillips has proved throughout her decades of fiction writing, there is evil in the world, but there are some who will stand in its way.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Hauntingly imagines the victimsand#8217; hopes, dreams, and terrorand#8230;Phillips blends fact and fiction in a darkly poetic way: The result is an andlt;b andgt;absorbing andlt;/bandgt;novel that leaves us rooting for the heroine Emily becomesand#8212;and mourning the lives the Eichers never got to enjoy.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;andlt;bandgt;Grippingand#8230;Chillingandlt;/bandgt;and#8230;The noveland#8217;s heartbeat is Emily, a Chicago Tribune reporter covering Powersand#8217; arrest and trialand#8230;andlt;iandgt;Quiet Dellandlt;/iandgt; does what Emily canand#8217;t, thoughtfully grafting a 21st-century sensibility onto 20th-century ghastliness. Emily resists the fetters placed on her as a journalist and a woman, while Eric, a gay photographer who accompanies her, is a keen observer of closeted life in the South.andlt;bandgt; andlt;/bandgt;Phillips exposes the eraand#8217;s prejudices less to render judgment than to show how cannily people like Emily and Eric worked around them.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A novel of compelling impressionsand#8230;andlt;b andgt;Triumphantandlt;/bandgt;and#8230;[Jayne Anne Phillips is] perceptive enough to hear, and respond to, the smallest of humanityand#8217;s sounds.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A mesmerizing novel drawn from the annals of infamous true crimeand#8230;andlt;Bandgt;Meticulous, engrossing and spellbindingandlt;/Bandgt;.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;The truth of all of Phillipsand#8217; characterizations is what lies behind this careful noveland#8217;s compelling momentum.and#8221;
Synopsis
andlt;B andgt;From one of Americaand#8217;s most accomplished and acclaimed fiction writers, a spectacularly riveting novel based on a real-life multiple murder by a con man who preyed on widowsand#8212; a story that has haunted Jayne Anne Phillips for more than four decadesandlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;In Chicago in 1931, Asta Eicher, mother of three, is lonely and despairing, pressed for money after the sudden death of her husband. She begins to receive seductive letters from a chivalrous, elegant man named Harry Powers, who promises to cherish and protect her, ultimately to marry her and to care for her and her children. Weeks later, all four Eichers are dead.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;Emily Thornhill, one of the few women journalists in the Chicago press, becomes deeply invested in understanding what happened to this beautiful family, particularly to the youngest child, Annabel, an enchanting girl with a precocious imagination and sense of magic. Bold and intrepid, Emily allies herself with a banker who is wracked by guilt for not saving Asta. Emily goes to West Virginia to cover the murder trial and to investigate the story herself, accompanied by a charming and unconventional photographer who is equally drawn to the case. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;Driven by secrets of their own, the heroic characters in this magnificent tale will stop at nothing to ensure that Powers is convicted. Mesmerizing and deeply moving, andlt;I andgt;Quiet Dellandlt;/Iandgt; is a tragedy, a love story, and a tour de force of obsession and imagination from one of Americaand#8217;s most celebrated writers.
About the Author
Jayne Anne Phillips is the author of andlt;iandgt;Lark and Termite, Motherkind, Shelter, andlt;/iandgt;and andlt;iandgt;Machine Dreamsandlt;/iandgt;, and the widely anthologized collections of stories, andlt;iandgt;Fast Lanes andlt;/iandgt;and andlt;iandgt;Black Ticketsandlt;/iandgt;. A National Book Award and National Book Criticand#8217;s Circle Award finalist,andnbsp;Phillips is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a Bunting Fellowship, the Sue Kaufman Prize, and an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She is Distinguished Professor of English and Director of the MFA Program at Rutgers-Newark, the State University of New Jersey, where she established The Writers At Newark Reading Series. Information, essays and text source photographs on her fiction can be viewed at JayneAnnePhillips.com.