Brand New Human Being

Just before eleven on an ordinary summer night in Washington, D.C., Tucker Jones picks up the phone, expecting to hear that his teenage daughter, Kat, is back from the movies. But the caller is another parent, a man who tells Tucker that Kat was actually at a party-- and makes a shocking allegation about what happened to her there. From that moment Breaking Her Fall sweeps irresistibly forward to it s wrenching, and redemptive, conclusion.

In a blind rage, Tucker races to the party to find Kat already departed, but his full-boil interrogation of the boys still present spills over into a confrontation-- and ends with one of the boys crashing into a glass tabletop. In a second, his rage turns to remorse, and he soon finds himself under arrest. Tucker could easily lose his home and his business, but he is most concerned about losing his daughter.

Stephen Goodwin writes with insight and rare power about the way that passion rearranges lives. As Tucker and Kat and everyone around them seek to repair the damages of that night, Breaking Her Fall charts their uncommonly difficult passage from despair to reconciliation and hope with extraordinary grace.

"This fast-paced tale of family life follows stay-at-home dad Logan Pyle as he tries to save his floundering marriage, find personal fulfillment, and figure out why his nearly five-year-old son wants to be treated like a baby - all while addressing the comical and quotidian quandaries of parenthood." - Real Simple

"What a treat to read Miller's whip-smart first novel. Brand New Human Being gripped me with its wry humor and wonderfully real characters, and kept me captivated until the last page. This is a fast-paced, first-rate book by an immensely talented new writer." -Curtis Sittenfeld "Miller's debut novel tackles the meaning of parenthood in the modern world. Introspective and honest, it　focuses on the small dramas inside Everyman's living room: the way all parents strive to be better than they are, the way a marriage can start to fray even with the best intentions, and the way love, however elusive, is always worth fighting for. Millers novel is sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, but always a worthy, exciting read." --Siobhan Fallon, author of You Know When the Men are Gone  

"A fast-paced tale of family life." 

-- Real Simple

"What a treat to read Miller's whip-smart first novel. Brand New Human Being gripped me with its wry humor and wonderfully real characters, and kept me captivated until the last page. This is a fast-paced, first-rate book by an immensely talented new writer."

--Curtis Sittenfeld

“Miller's debut novel tackles the meaning of parenthood in the modern world. Introspective and honest, it focuses on the small dramas inside Everyman's living room: the way all parents strive to be better than they are, the way a marriage can start to fray even with the best intentions, and the way love, however elusive, is always worth fighting for. Millers novel is sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, but always a worthy, exciting read.”

--Siobhan Fallon, author of You Know When the Men are Gone "The strength of BRAND NEW HUMAN BEING is its realistic portrayal of trauma and its aftermath. Death, birth, disease and survival all have their messy consequences in these pages. Miller...is especially good at showing the sloppy nature of relationships in the wake of upheaval."

--Washington Post

"Touching...Miller explores Logans resentments and insecurities with sensitivity and nuance."

--Publishers Weekly

"Miller is at her best in scenes with Logan and Owen together—dads brutal honesty with his son about death in general (and Owens near-death experience in particular) exposes the depths of his emotional frustration...the first-person-present narration gives the novel a breezy energy.  A solid debut..."

--Kirkus Reviews

"This respectable debut follows the mostly self-inflicted trials of Logan Pyle as he navigates the suddenly confusing waters of fatherhood, marriage, and complex family history...this coming-of-age novel for adults peels back [Pyle's] emotional layers as he tries to find firm ground in the shifting continents of his life."

--Booklist

“A frank, plain-spoken, passionate novel that got its grips on me. It is,

in one sense, a page-turner, and in another a true and good story of

human frailty and imperfection survived.”—RICHARD FORD

“This summers exquisitely rendered migraine is Stephen Goodwins

novel Breaking Her Fall. Its an intelligent story full of vivid characters.”

—MAUREEN CORRIGAN, on NPR'S FRESH AIR

"A corker--vivid, brilliantly marbled with harmonies and textures and people vibrant with life."--Richard Bausch

PRAISE FOR THE BLOOD OF PARADISE

"A book that seems laden, rich, powerful. The three characters at its center are so profoundly alive that whatever room you're reading this in will seem densely populated."--Anne Tyler, The Washington Post Book World

"A whip-smart first novel that gripped me with its wry humor and wonderfully real characters" (Curtis Sittenfeld, author of American Wife), and the story of a stay-at-home dad who's holding his life together by a thread

Meet Logan Pyle, a lapsed grad student and stay-at-home dad who’s holding it together by a thread. His father, Gus, has died; his wife, Julie, has grown distant; his four-year-old son has gone back to drinking from a bottle. When he finds Julie kissing another man on a pile of coats at a party, the thread snaps. Logan packs a bag, buckles his son into his car seat, and heads north with a 1930s Lousville Slugger in the back of his truck, a maxed-out credit card in his wallet, and revenge in his heart.

After some bad decisions and worse luck, he lands at his father’s old A-frame cabin, where his father’s young widow, Bennie, now lives. She has every reason to turn Logan away, but when she doesn’t, she opens the door to unexpected redemption—for both of them.

A deftly plotted exploration of marriage, family, and the road from child to parent, Brand New Human Being is a page-turning debut that overflows with heart and grace.

Stay-at-home dad Logan Pyle is holding his life together by a thread: his larger-than-life father, Gus, has just died, his wife is distant, and his kindergarten-age son has regressed to drinking from a baby bottle and sucking his thumb. Complicating matters further is Bennie, Gus’s beautiful young widow, with whom Logan has a troubled past. When the thread finally snaps, Logan’s actions threaten to tear the family he treasures apart. Carried by Logan’s wry, original voice, this moving debut follows one man’s journey from child to parent.

“Compelling . . . The strength of Brand New Human Being is its realistic portrayal of trauma and its aftermath.” —Washington Post

“Introspective and honest . . . Miller’s novel is sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, but always a worthy, exciting read.” —Siobhan Fallon, author of You Know When the Men Are Gone

“I devoured this novel. Miller’s debut is funny, fast-paced and poignant, and it depicts a father-son relationship unlike any I’ve read before.” —Jim Gavin, author of Middle Men