"...will touch hearts with its tale of a courageous and determined woman struggling against her own secrets, as well as of the patriarchy and intolerance of small-town, West Texas life." - the Advocate "The Best Books We Read in 2018"
​This story always takes many delightful twists and turns, always described succinctly and colorfully ... The love child of Fannie Flagg and Rita Mae Brown, Stoner is sure to win her own devoted following with this ravishing debut.
With a lively sense of humor and a great sense of place, tammy lynne stoner’s debut is a Southern novel from a voice that rings true. As Dara navigates these difficult circumstances, she realizes she’s constructed a prison around herself, keeping everyone out. With the help of her stepdaughters, one of whom dresses and presents herself as a man, Dara reclaims her life and comes out to her family.
A novel of exploration, bravery and redemption, with keen insight into race, class, gender identity and social norms, Sugar Land is the story of a woman learning to come home to herself.
In this always surprising and exhilarating first novel ... Dara is both practical and passionate, and likable to boot, as she makes her way in the world, sometimes clumsily, other times with determination, and always trying to remain true to herself. A lovely debut..."
How can you not adore a novel about love, food, and how working in a prison can help you discover whom you really are? Every page has a beating heart, every character is so alive, you swear you hear them breathing. Stoner is an original and this debut is just fantastic.
The characters we meet in SUGAR LAND brim with color, ache with longing, sass, snipe, strike, and, as the book itself does, sing. This big-hearted story spans decades, exploring at every turn the prisons we build ourselves, the exhilaration of cracking them wide open, and the heartbreaking cost when we can’t.
​"stoner can turn a clever phrase — “My nerves jumped more than a grasshopper on a griddle”; “I was retaining enough water to grow rice in Arizona” — and her characters have unforeseen depths even they’re not always aware of. Dara’s may not be the kind of courage that wins medals in battle, but over the course of the novel, she develops the kind of quiet strength necessary for outsiders to turn going against the grain into both a daily routine and essential survival skill."
Quietly powerful ... Sugar Land is a raw, spiraling, and hopeful story about a woman who wishes that she didn’t love as she does, and the life she leads in the wake of her self-realizations.
tammy lynne stoner creates a captivating story for the ages—a young, southern girl in the 1920s who becomes a ballsy broad in a double-wide, and on the journey learns about love the hard way. This heartbreaking and hysterical book inspires us with a brave and unusual life.
Don’t miss this Southern coming-of-age gem about love and self-acceptance.
Sugar Land is a heartfelt story of what it meant to be ‘different’ in the Deep South during the middle 20th century. Dara is a superb character with warmth and genuine humanity.
​It's 1923 in Midland, Texas, and Nana Dara, newly employed by the Imperial Prison Farm for men and newly awakened to a secret she'd rather lock up than face, has encountered the most unlikely of allies: Lead Belly. Yes, that Lead Belly. Out from this very particular pairing spools a Southern epic that spans decades. With beautiful peculiarity of detail and a perfect combination of sharpness and sensitivity, tammy lynne stoner pens a gorgeous debut novel about race, class, sexuality, and the prisons we make of ourselves.
stoner's debut story of a young woman trying to find her way in the world is both light and profound. Dara falls in love with her best friend, and the bliss she feels is like nothing ever before. Events occur which derail her future plans, so Dara regroups and tiptoes her way into a different kind of life. Sweet and serious, Sugar Land is a great coming-of-age story that looks at both the euphoria and the despair of first and all-consuming love. Fans of Fannie Flagg will be thrilled with Sugar Land.
tammy lynne stoner has a voice that’s all her own, lean and strong and unflinching, taking readers on a crazy and colorful ride toward the unexpected.
What drew me most ... was the energy of the writing and the exciting use of language ... Our amazing narrator took charge, propelling me forward through the piece, revealing layers of her past and her personality throughout in a way that made the piece really latch on to me and not let me go. This is a great, moving piece of writing that draws the reader into the character’s world, and the raw, unvarnished truth of her experience.
- Chad Peterson, Managing Editor of 10,000 Tons of Black Ink, who published "Racing Josephine"