• About
    • About Us
    • What is Eco-fiction?
    • Contributors
    • Tour Guide
    • Copyright, Privacy, and AI
    • More!
    • News
    • Support Us
  • Authors
    • World Eco-fiction Series
    • Indie Corner
    • Dragonfly Library
    • Women Working in Nature and the Arts
    • All Interviews
    • Quotes
  • Books & Database
    • Database
    • Turning the Tide (for kids)
    • Book Recs
    • Reviews
    • Reviews-Youth
  • Submit
  • Games, Film, Music
  • Blog
  • Links and Resources
Dragonfly: An exploration of eco-fiction
  • About
    • About Us
    • What is Eco-fiction?
    • Contributors
    • Tour Guide
    • Copyright, Privacy, and AI
    • More!
    • News
    • Support Us
  • Authors
    • World Eco-fiction Series
    • Indie Corner
    • Dragonfly Library
    • Women Working in Nature and the Arts
    • All Interviews
    • Quotes
  • Books & Database
    • Database
    • Turning the Tide (for kids)
    • Book Recs
    • Reviews
    • Reviews-Youth
  • Submit
  • Games, Film, Music
  • Blog
  • Links and Resources

My Absolute Darling, Gabriel Tallent

Mary Woodbury

August 23, 2017

Booksellers have chosen Gabriel Tallent’s harrowing debut novel, My Absolute Darling (Riverhead Books), as the number-one September Indie Next List pick…This is a Great American Novel. Exquisitely lush language of the natural world; startlingly vivid characters; a global understanding of social context, in a particular place; and, in this case, steel-wire narrative tension stringing through the beautiful prose like piano wire. It is the book this year that I feel every American should read, because of its greatness and also because of its deep wrestling with issues of class, complacency, climate change, culture, and especially gender.

–Bookweb.org (interview with author)


Shot through with striking language in a fierce natural setting, My Absolute Darling is an urgently told, profoundly moving read that marks the debut of an extraordinary new writer.

-Goodreads

Note that this book includes sexual and physical abuse themes that may not be suitable for younger minds.

Goodreads Reviews

Average Rating:

3.6 rating based on 52,705 ratings (all editions)

ISBN-10: 0735211175
ISBN-13: 9780735211179
Goodreads: 33572350

Author(s):
Gabriel Tallent
Publisher:
Published: //

At 14, Turtle Alveston knows the use of every gun on her wall. She knows how to snare a rabbit, sharpen a blade and splint a bone. She knows that her daddy loves her more than anything else in this world and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her with him.

But she doesn’t know why she feels so different from the other girls at school; why the line between love and pain can be so hard to see. Or why making a friend may be the bravest and most terrifying thing she has ever done.

Sometimes the people you’re supposed to trust are the ones who do most harm. And what you’ve been taught to fear is the very thing that will save you…
Information from Goodreads.com
  • Libraries
Links from Goodreads.com
 

My Absolute Darling Reviews

Reviews from Goodreads.com

Back to GoodReads

Follow

Link Tree

Subscribe to Dragonfly's newsletter



Translate

Selected Interviews

  • Mohammed Ahmad
  • Yaba Badoe
  • R.A. Busby
  • David Brin
  • E.G. Condé
  • Omar El Akkad
  • Helon Habila
  • Julie Janson
  • Oonya Kempadoo
  • Wu Ming-yi
  • Nichole Amber Moss
  • Pola Oloixarac
  • Waubgeshig Rice
  • Jewell Parker Rhodes
  • Pitchaya Sudbanthad
  • Tlotlo Tsamaase
  • Sheree Renée Thomas
  • Jeff VanderMeer
  • Cynthia Zhang
  • Read more...

Support

Check here for how you can help support this site!

Grist's Imagine 2200

To Labor for the Hive, Jamie Liu

Cabbage Koora: A Prognostic Autobiography, Sanjana Sekhar

A trusted .eco domain

Tags: Gabriel Tallent

Mary Woodbury

Leave a Comment Cancel

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Geekoscopy Interview
Eco-Genres
DORKS Chat
Extinction Rebellion
Black Lives Matter
Eco-fiction Recs
Eco-weird Interview
Black Lives Matter
A History of Eco-fiction
The Ecological Weird
Rewilding Our Stories: Discord
Social Impact Survey Results
Around the World in 80 Books
Rising Appalachia

Copyright © 2025 — Dragonfly: An exploration of eco-fiction. All Rights Reserved

Designed by WPZOOM