“Mauk’s followup to her debut…revolves around the enduring bond between two girls raised in a commune in Ohio…Mauk’s second venture is a nuanced character study that draws the reader into its compelling, unique world.” – Booklist
A postcard arrives straight out of her past, forcing Carrie to confront her commune upbringing alongside Amelia, the almost-sister she worshipped and lost. Desperate to keep her daughter close as her marriage disintegrates, Carrie must come to understand how the choices made by a well-meaning but misguided community have defined her life since, and threaten to forever.
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“Lean, muscular, poetic, Orion’s Daughters explores the age-old hunger to re-invent Eden (in this case as a rural Ohio commune) and the marks left on two girls shaped by Edenic isolation and ideals. The novel has the heartbeat of a mystery, and I turned pages rapidly, desperate to know the outcome yet at the same time holding back so as to drink in each precise, resonant phrase.” – Pamela Erens, author of Eleven Hours and The Virgins
“A spectacular evocation of isolation and idealism—and the danger of pursuing both with too much ardor. Courtney Elizabeth Mauk is an exquisite, sharp-eyed stylist and Orion’s Daughters is a gorgeous meditation on the enduring power of friendship and what happens to a person when the ghosts of their childhood threaten to overwhelm them.” – Laura van den Berg, author of Find Me and The Isle of Youth
“Courtney Elizabeth Mauk knows exactly how America looks, and how it feels behind closed doors. At the Ohio commune of Orion’s Daughters, taboos become comforting and familiar relationships strange, but a friendship between two girls is as powerful as ever. An elegant, haunting book about who we were as children and who we have become.” - Katherine Hill, author of The Violet Hour
For Orion’s Daughters reviews, please go here.