https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2024/11/q-with-mary-troy.html
Hear Mary’s interview with Marie Stone, Writers on Writing, UC Irvine, Orange County Public Radio
A few sample reviews
In The Sky Lord
” In this new set of stories from longtime novelist Troy, ordinary folks are often put into situations that demand their most extraordinary selves….[The stories] are slow-burns in which readers will find themselves moved by ostensibly mundane turns in life. The author displays her gift for finding small details that reveal volumes about her characters….These stories have the heft of real life, and readers will carry these characters with them.
A moving collection of literary fiction.”–Kirkus Review
“…it’s mostly the people…that make In The Sky Lord come alive….Troy has the talent and the empathy to make such people, their lives and their environment become real. Readers who get to know them will find their time well spent.” —St. Louis Post Dispatch
Electric Literature names In The Sky Lord one of the 15 books “you should be reading,” January 2025.
Joe Baker is Dead
“Consistently funny…[and] they cause others to look more carefully, more respectfully, at others as they go about their lives…A strong, reliable, very individual voice unites the stories with an ethical center most short story collections cannot even pretend to have.”—The Riverfront Times
“All stories show Troy’s gifts for effective dialogue, interesting situations, and a genuine empathy for characters whose lives have generally fallen short of the hopes and dreams of their youth.”—St. Louis Post Dispatch
The Alibi Café and other stories
A masterful, moving collection of stories populated by liars, losers, jilted (or jilting) lovers and other assorted outsiders. These stories are at once heartbreaking and hopeful, honest and outrageous. Fans of her first collection, Joe Baker is Dead, will find the same attention to detail, unique voice, and, of course, unparalleled penchant for unearthing beauty in the oddest of circumstances. —MidAmerican Review
“ What virtually all the characters share is a profound sense of ironic detachment that keeps the world at a protective remove. Although Mary Troy could portray her characters in this fine collection merely as hapless losers, she wisely chooses to let us glimpse the resignation behind their struggles” The New York Times Book Review.
Cookie Lily
“Gorgeous Tales of skeptics in paradise…juxtapositions of profane beauty and splendid decay.”
“Wonderful stories—exquisitely crafted and deeply moving. Troy’s characters are the creations of a writer possessed of a keen intelligence and a compassionate heart.”
“… a collection that is sadly wise and difficult to forget.”—St. Louis Post Dispatch.
“A thoroughly enchanting collection,” –Select Fiction
“Deftly written and highly recommended tales”.—Library Bookwatch.
Beauties
“Mary Troy’s spiraling novel is at both firmly local and firmly philosophical, eliciting questions about love, beauty, family, and meaning at midlife….Troy has produced a novel that is admirably buoyant, filled with a lively sense of wit.” Arkansas Review
“Stately…fast moving…enchanting…lovely sentences,” –Bloomsbury Review
Swimming on Hwy N
“Troy uses dry wit and dark humor to an outstanding effect….the novel is truly a treasure trove of wry conversations and aphoristic statements. This is a novel for those who like stories that touch upon serious philosophical and sociopolitical issues…In essence, in this novel, Mary Troy has created a modern-day Mark Twainy tale.” –The Arkansas Review
“Anyone who cares about the continuing vitality of the social novel, its ability to speak for the full pluribus of the American unum, ought to jump and cheer.”—The Brooklyn Rail
marytroy 