Barbara Kingsolver
“This is storytelling at the height of its powers: the ache of wrongs not yet made right, the fierce attendance of history made as real as rain, as true as this minute. Hillary Jordan writes with the force of a Delta storm. Her characters walked straight out of 1940's Mississippi and into the part of my brain where sympathy and anger and love reside, leaving my heart racing. They are with me still.”

Michelle Green, People, Critics Choice, 4-Star Review
“[A] supremely readable debut novel . . . Fluidly narrated by engaging characters . . . Mudbound is packed with drama. Pick it up and pass it on."

Tayari Jones, Paste Magazine, 4-Star Review
“[A] tremendous gift, a story that challenges the 1950s textbook version of our history and leaves its readers completely in the thrall of her characters — and with an intense desire to investigate beyond the novel's pages. Mudbound may well become a staple of syllabi for courses in Southern literature."

Borders Short List
“With a swelling racial tension that ultimately bursts in hatred, this tragic love story calls to mind such Southern greats as Welty and Faulkner."

Steve Benett, San Antonio Express

"Is it too early to say, after just one book, that here's a voice that will echo for years to come? With authentic, earthy prose . . . Jordan picks at the scabs of racial inequality that will perhaps never fully heal and brings just enough heartbreak to this inimate, universal tale, just enough suspense, to leave us contemplating how the lives and motives of these vivid characters might have been different."

Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers
“[A] powerful firestorm of a first novel . . . "

Rollie Welch, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“This book packs an emotional wallop that will engage adult and adolescent readers . . . The six narrators here have enough time and space to develop a complicated set of relationships. The fault lines among them converge into a crackling gunpoint confrontation, a stunning scene that ranks as my personal favorite of this year."

Chris Wiegard, Richmond Times-Dispatch
“[R]efusing to turn the page is not an option. Jordan is able to make her painful subject matter irresistible by putting the breath of life in these people. Character, dialog and plot fit together perfectly in a spare effort that wastes no words . . . The reader is left wondering: How can this young author top her first effort?"

Michael Ventre, MSNBC.com, "Can't Miss" Column
“Jordan has an uncanny knack for nailing the voices of characters she has no business knowing, but know them she does. Mudbound also reminds us of the sacrifices made by all soldiers, and how the home front isn't always as appreciative as it should be."

Tom Voelgeli, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“A complicated stew in which the distinction between good and evil isn't always clear. This is a book in which love and rage cohabit. This is a book that made me cry."

Greg Williamson, Jackson Free Press

"Luminous . . . breathtaking . . . The power of Mudbound is that the characters speak directly to the reader. And they will stay with you long after you put the book down. Their resolve and heartbreak become  part of personal memory, like these things actually happened to someone you know; it wasn't just a story. In making this narrative — a difficult narrative — feel this real, the novelist gives voice and shape to that which is usually left unspoken."

Francesca Segal, The Observer (U.K.)
"Mudbound has already won the Bellwether Prize in America for 'socially responsible literature' . . . But this is far more than an educational pamphlet on the horrors of the segregated Deep South — it's a light, page-turning read that conveys a serious message without preaching."

Lynna Williams, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“In a layered tragedy that is at once complicated and inevitable, Mudbound dramatizes the human cost of unthinking hatred . . . The challenge Jordan faces is to make an all-too-familiar story compelling. She meets it by making her characters flesh and blood . . . That [she] makes a hopeful ending seem possible, after the violence and injustice that precede it, is a tribute to the novel's voices and the contribution each makes to the story . . . The characters live in the novel as individuals, black and white, which gives Mudbound its impact."

Tresca Weinstein, Albany Times Union

"If Hillary Jordan's new book, Mudbound, is ever made into a movie, the odds are very good that it will end up on the short list for an Academy Award. Not just because of the quality of Jordan's writing . . . but also because she tackles some of this country's most enduring and well-trodden emotional and historical territory, the stuff Oscars thrive on."

Austin American-Statesman

"The recognition [Jordan]'s received for her work has been nothing short of sparkling. Mudbound is as much a tale of racism as it is the transcending powers of love and friendship."

Krista Derbecker Gilliam, Creative Loafing Atlanta

"Mudbound is full of rich details and dimensional, engaging characters, and it sucks readers in like quicksand from its opening scene."

DailyCandy, Seattle

"A heart-rending debut novel . . . Jordan's beautiful, haunting prose makes it a seductive page-turner."

Anne Pyburn, Chronogram Magazine
Mudbound grabs the reader by the throat . . . Jordan sweeps the reader into her story with tenderness and power. These people live and breathe; their angers, shocks and setbacks become our own. [This] first novel carries a subtle wisdom about race, men, women, marriage, war, and social class — all wrapped in a package of smooth, accessible storytelling that goes down easily, sticking to your ribs."

The Edmonton Journal (Canada)
"Mudbound is a rarity; a literary page-turner so filled with tension you can all but hear an ominous soundtrack as you read . . . Jordan creates such a vivid sense of place you could swear you were right there, at the farm, watching life unfold just after the 2nd World War. "

Mike Shea, Texas Monthly
“A meticulous, moving narrative."

Tim Davis, Bookloons
"A wonderful new voice in southern American literature — reminiscent of the best of William Faulkner and Eudora Welty — has emerged in Hillary Jordan's uncommonly powerful debut novel, Mudbound. As a fiercely haunting and paradoxically beautiful tale of love, neglect, betrayal, and justice within and among families, Mudbound introduces readers to some of the most remarkable characters to have appeared recently in American literature . . . Here is the bottom line: Mudbound is intense, beautiful and unforgettable. Don't miss it!"

Jenny Camp, Rocky Mountain News
“The novel's inevitable closing scenes are painfully violent, utterly memorable and surprisingly rich in cultural metaphor and well-wrought literary ploy . . . Jordan is an author to watch."

Authortrek
"Hillary Jordan is a masterful storyteller. Her simple yet lyrical prose reminds me greatly of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Her characterisation skills are just as powerful. Each of the main protagonists narrates the story from their own point of view, and Hillary Jordan really gets into their skins. However, it’s [her] narrative skills that are the most impressive — she will leave you gasping out loud with the most dramatic turns of the story. Mudbound is an outstanding debut."

Caroline Leavitt, Dame Magazine
“This is one of the most extraordinary novels I've read all year . . . Set against the pull of the land — and of the lonely heart — the ensuing tragedy is both inevitable and heart shattering."

Anne Morris, Dallas Morning News
“Mudbound argues for humanity and equality, while highlighting the effects of war. [The] mixture of the predictble and the unpredictable will keep readers turning the pages . . It feels like a classic tragedy, whirling towards a climax."

Diane Leach, PopMatters

"A faceted story of the damages wrought by war and racism. Jordan's great gift is her ability to inhabit such disparate characters so well, seamlessly using language to convey their distinctions . . . [Her] other great gift is making her characters likeable despite their failings, so we understand Laura's narow-mindedness, Henry's chauvinism, Jamie's ultimately killing weaknesses."

Leonard Gill, The Memphis Flyer

“The Bellwether Prize for Fiction . . . may have surprised the author; it won't surprise readers . . . No arguing . . . with Hillary Jordan's skillful blending of voices. And no denying that readers in search of straight-forward storytelling will be hooked."

Lucia Silva, BookBrowse

"I hungrily raced through Mudbound in just two days, a whirlwind, fiction-filled 48 hours in which I loathed to put the book down . . . Alternating narrators is tricky business, but Jordan pulls it off seamlessly, immediately commanding her characters to life. Her storytellers bear witness to some of the most horrific, unjust beliefs and actions that stain our nation's history, offering a token of literary justice that resonates much deeper than a mere drop in the best-seller bucket. This is a brave, beautiful novel, deserving of much praise and a wide readership."

Deborah Donovan, BookPage
"Debut novelist Hillary jordan has crafted an unforgettable tale of family loyalties, the spiraling after-effects of war and the unfathomable human behavor generated by racism."

Daily Oklahoman
“Jordan has crafted a story that shines. She captures each character's voices and places the reader amid the action. This is a good historical novel with a twist of an ending."

Publishers Weekly
“[A] beautiful debut . . . A superbly rendered depiction of the fury and terror wrought by racism.

Library Journal, Starred Review
"[A] poignant and moving debut novel . . . Jordan faultlessly portrays the values of the 1940s as she builds to a stunning conclusion. Highly recommended."

amazon.com
“Jordan has written a story filled with characters as real and compelling as anyone we know. [Her] writing and perfect control of the material lift it from being another "ain't-it-awful" tale to a heart-rending story of deep, mindless prejudice and cruelty.”

Stewart O’Nan, author of A Prayer for the Dying and
Last Night at the Lobster
“Mudbound is a real page-turner—a tangle of history, tragedy, and romance powered by guilt, moral indignation, and a near chorus of unstoppable voices.”

Booklist, Starred Review
“[A] sophisticated, complex first novel.”

Kirkus Reviews
“Family bonds are twisted and broken in Jordan’s meditation on the fallen South . . . a confidently executed novel.”