Library Journal - Audio
06/01/2022
Kit Walker is a 13-year-old girl escaping from a dysfunctional foster care system when she crosses paths with Manny Romero. Determined not to return to a foster home, she takes up with this small-time criminal as they traipse across Texas. Kit helps him run his cons, and the two become quite comfortable in their vagabond life. However, she has to find new ways to ensure his interest in her as she grows. Soon she finds herself pregnant and begins rethinking her future life. Frost carefully leads listeners through this lost child's struggles to find where she belongs. Once free of Manny, she raises their daughter until he shows up one day. Kit's story has a little bit of everything, with the overarching theme being the human need to belong. VERDICT Alex McKenna's Southern-accented narration of Frost's debut novel will make listeners want to wash down a slice of pecan pie with some sweet tea. Frost's characters come to life and almost directly invite listeners to sit on down for a spell.—Laura Trombley
Publishers Weekly
11/22/2021
Frost debuts with the captivating if messy story of a woman who comes of age amid a life of crime. At 13, foster child Kit Walker meets Manny Romero at a Texas gas station. Manny grooms her as an accomplice for thefts and eventually armed robbery, and when Kit is 19 Manny gets her pregnant. He wants Kit to have an abortion, but she breaks away from him, carving out a hardscrabble life for herself and her daughter, Charlie, in the small town of Pecan Hollow. Fourteen years later, Manny, fresh from prison and claiming to be reformed, tracks her down. The author does a bang-up job fleshing out Kit’s young life, creating the perfect storm of circumstances—feeling abandoned and undeserving of love as she is shuffled from one foster family to the next—for her to trust a stranger who treats her with a kindness she’s never known. Once Manny comes back, however, the story goes a bit off the rails, as Manny charms the residents of Pecan Hollow, including the teenage Charlie, and Kit worries Manny will take Charlie away from her. Much melodrama ensues, including some gratuitous violence. Nevertheless, Frost offers plenty of punchy lines (on Manny: “His careful calm gave way to a bulldozing rage”). It’s uneven, but there’s promise here. Agent: Elizabeth Winnick, McIntosh & Otis. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
Demonstrating a polished sense of setting and characterization, Frost crafts a deftly complex, psychologically astute, and deeply unsettling debut novel.” — Booklist
“Frost’s prose is engaging and sharp-edged, carefully attuned to her characters in a way that feels vividly real...[Shadows of Pecan Hollow is] a heart-rending and complex examination of one woman’s flawed attempts to overcome her past.” — Kirkus Reviews
“This is a truly great year for Texas crime novels, and Shadows of Pecan Hollow is no exception.” — CrimeReads
“Heart-rending… Frost puts her background as a marriage and family therapist to good use in crafting [main character] Kit. Less perceptive writers may have written Kit as a cliché, but Frost guides the reader to understand Kit’s story and the reasons behind her susceptibility to a charismatic egotist.” — BookPage
“[C]aptivating…The author does a bang-up job…creating the perfect storm of circumstances.” — Publishers Weekly
“Frost's skill at sculpting a character both sympathetic and prickly shines in Shadows of Pecan Hollow…[an] impressive debut.” — Shelf Awareness
“How do we let go of a dark, menacing past, especially when a dangerous love still binds us to it? Frost’s extraordinary debut is about Kit, a young mother struggling to raise her daughter, and to erase her abduction at 13 by a thief, who coerced her into crime and into his heart. Dazzling, unexpected and profound, this is a shattering page-turner about how love can twist our lives into something we no longer recognize, and how we might find our way back to our best selves and to the communities that just might save us. In a word: brilliant.” — Caroline Leavitt, bestselling author of With or Without You
“’Paper Moon’ meets ‘Badlands’ in this mesmerizing Texas backroads thriller, a twisty story of a runaway girl who finds a home and a desperate love on the road with an opportunistic criminal, and the long comet’s tail of their story. A notable debut, drenched in regional detail and told in a gritty, sensual prose.” — Janet Fitch, #1 New York Times bestselling author of White Oleander
“Frost’s depiction of female desire in a man’s world has undeniable power.” — Texas Monthly
“What immense talent flows through this spellbinding story! Everything is here: magnetic characters, fierce momentum, and great authenticity of voice, place and thought. I was stunned in the best possible way throughout. How does Caroline Frost do it, I marveled; how does she know this? What an amazing, rewarding feat of craftsmanship and love!” — Elinor Lipman, author of Rachel to the Rescue
“Shadows of Pecan Hollow is a hugely satisfying slow burn of a novel that builds to a wrenching, unforgettable blaze. Frost explores the lives of her complex, arresting characters with nuance, compassion, and an unwavering gaze. Highly recommended.” — Lou Berney, Edgar-award winning author of November Road
“With a strong sense of time and place, Caroline Frost's debut novel weaves an authentic southern tale of need, necessity, survival, and forgiveness, with love as the enduring force that guides.” — Deb Spera, author of Call Your Daughter Home
“Caroline Frost's beautiful and clear-eyed debut captures the huge comfort of even deeply flawed love and how our urge for survival can distort our lives as easily as it can straighten them into something true. But it also shows us that with enough patience, for ourselves as well as for others, we all have the capacity to heal even the most stubborn of wounds. These are characters you'll carry with you long after you've read the last page.” — Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, Texas
"He’s a charismatic criminal; she’s a dirt-streaked runaway who doesn’t feel pain. Their ensuing crime spree sits like a rock in your stomach, and fifteen years later, when he comes back to haunt her, you'll reach for your phone to dial 911. In this gorgeous, completely addictive debut of love gone bad, Caroline Frost churns up an atmosphere sinister and sour as wind whipping off the oil rigs in Galveston—and a heroine so toughened and feral, readers won't want to step out of her brave, quick-witted, leather-bound hide for a single moment." — Barbara Bourland, author of Fake Like Me
Elinor Lipman
What immense talent flows through this spellbinding story! Everything is here: magnetic characters, fierce momentum, and great authenticity of voice, place and thought. I was stunned in the best possible way throughout. How does Caroline Frost do it, I marveled; how does she know this? What an amazing, rewarding feat of craftsmanship and love!”
CrimeReads
This is a truly great year for Texas crime novels, and Shadows of Pecan Hollow is no exception.
Shelf Awareness
Frost's skill at sculpting a character both sympathetic and prickly shines in Shadows of Pecan Hollow…[an] impressive debut.
Lou Berney
Shadows of Pecan Hollow is a hugely satisfying slow burn of a novel that builds to a wrenching, unforgettable blaze. Frost explores the lives of her complex, arresting characters with nuance, compassion, and an unwavering gaze. Highly recommended.
Janet Fitch
’Paper Moon’ meets ‘Badlands’ in this mesmerizing Texas backroads thriller, a twisty story of a runaway girl who finds a home and a desperate love on the road with an opportunistic criminal, and the long comet’s tail of their story. A notable debut, drenched in regional detail and told in a gritty, sensual prose.
BookPage
Heart-rending… Frost puts her background as a marriage and family therapist to good use in crafting [main character] Kit. Less perceptive writers may have written Kit as a cliché, but Frost guides the reader to understand Kit’s story and the reasons behind her susceptibility to a charismatic egotist.
Booklist
Demonstrating a polished sense of setting and characterization, Frost crafts a deftly complex, psychologically astute, and deeply unsettling debut novel.
Caroline Leavitt
How do we let go of a dark, menacing past, especially when a dangerous love still binds us to it? Frost’s extraordinary debut is about Kit, a young mother struggling to raise her daughter, and to erase her abduction at 13 by a thief, who coerced her into crime and into his heart. Dazzling, unexpected and profound, this is a shattering page-turner about how love can twist our lives into something we no longer recognize, and how we might find our way back to our best selves and to the communities that just might save us. In a word: brilliant.”
Booklist
Demonstrating a polished sense of setting and characterization, Frost crafts a deftly complex, psychologically astute, and deeply unsettling debut novel.
Deb Spera
With a strong sense of time and place, Caroline Frost's debut novel weaves an authentic southern tale of need, necessity, survival, and forgiveness, with love as the enduring force that guides.
Stacey Swann
Caroline Frost's beautiful and clear-eyed debut captures the huge comfort of even deeply flawed love and how our urge for survival can distort our lives as easily as it can straighten them into something true. But it also shows us that with enough patience, for ourselves as well as for others, we all have the capacity to heal even the most stubborn of wounds. These are characters you'll carry with you long after you've read the last page.
Barbara Bourland
"He’s a charismatic criminal; she’s a dirt-streaked runaway who doesn’t feel pain. Their ensuing crime spree sits like a rock in your stomach, and fifteen years later, when he comes back to haunt her, you'll reach for your phone to dial 911. In this gorgeous, completely addictive debut of love gone bad, Caroline Frost churns up an atmosphere sinister and sour as wind whipping off the oil rigs in Galveston—and a heroine so toughened and feral, readers won't want to step out of her brave, quick-witted, leather-bound hide for a single moment."
Library Journal
09/01/2021
Abducted in 1970 by small-time crook Manny Romero, 13-year-old runaway Kit Walker at first gently tended to and then initiated into a life of crime; she and Manny are soon known as the Texaco Twosome for their gutsy gas station robberies. A decade and a half later, Kit is living in modest, muddy Pecan Hollow with her daughter when Manny reappears, just out of jail and ready to start a clean new life—with her. From debuter Frost; with a75,000-copy first printing.
Kirkus Reviews
2022-02-09
A woman’s carefully built life is thrown into turmoil when the father of her child arrives on her doorstep, claiming to have changed, in this debut novel.
Kit Walker has worked hard to provide a stable home for her daughter, Charlie. Working odd jobs to make ends meet and struggling with Charlie’s behavioral problems, Kit leads a private and isolated existence in the rural Texas town of Pecan Hollow. Her quiet life is a matter of self-preservation. At 13, runaway Kit was picked up and groomed by Manny Romero, an adult who took advantage of her loneliness to get her involved in a string of robberies. Kit bailed when she became pregnant, leaving Manny to be arrested when a job went downhill. But when Manny arrives at her door unannounced, having recently been released from prison, Kit can’t resist letting him back into her life. Frost’s prose is engaging and sharp-edged, carefully attuned to her characters in a way that feels vividly real. Kit’s difficulties with Charlie, who doesn’t know about her mother’s past but whom Kit sees through the lens of her own broken childhood, are realistically depicted with empathy for both of them, while Manny’s capacity for manipulation and cruelty is chillingly depicted from the first time he appears on the page.
A heart-rending and complex examination of one woman’s flawed attempts to overcome her past.
