Books
THE ICE HOUSE, (Grove Press, 2017))“A MAJESTIC RECONCILIATION STORY.” ~ Publishers Weekly
Named one of BBC Culture’s “Ten Books to Read in December”
Named an Amazon “Best Book of the Month, December 2017”
Named a Southern Living “Great New Book to Read Over Winter Break”
“The Ice House is both serious and lively, leavened by humour, filled with distinctive characters. Smith moves fluidly between Florida and Scotland, the present and the past, deftly evoking the complicated dance of distance and reconciliation.” — BBC Culture, “Ten Books to Read in December.”
“Laura Lee Smith’s highly anticipated follow-up to her debut, Heart of Palm, is a story about a man named Johnny MacKinnon who’s estranged from his son, has never seen his granddaughter, may have a brain tumor, and is losing the family business, an ice factory he’s been in charge of for years. That’s not the end of his story, though; that’s the beginning.” — Southern Living, “Great New Books to Read Over Winter Break.”
“Smith weaves (the characters’) stories expertly, moving from Jacksonville to Scotland and back, from another disaster to a laugh-out-loud moment. Her tenderness toward her characters and subtle understanding of class differences in American society are reminiscent of such novelists as Richard Russo and Jennifer Egan, but this heartbreaking, heartwarming novel is an original.” — Tampa Bay Times.
“A spirited cast makes up the foundation of Smith’s delicately spun story of family, loyalty, and the difficult choices people must make when forgiving someone…Peppering the story with affecting interludes that trace the evolution of Johnny and Corran’s relationship, Smith (Heart of Palm) majestically captures the urgency of reconnecting with a loved one when time seems to be quickly slipping away. ” — Publishers Weekly.
“The Ice House is a tour de force that sweeps readers into a symphony of powerfully drawn characters, all of whom have been wounded in ways that both cripple and embolden them. This novel is an intercontinental family saga and an exploration of blue-collar life, but at its core it’s a very a good novel that asks us to consider the lengths we’ll go to in order to save the things that matter most: a company, a loved one, ourselves.” —Wiley Cash, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Last Ballad, A Land More Kind Than Home and This Dark Road to Mercy.
“The Ice House offers all the pleasures of the novel—robust characters we worry about and root for, a story that deepens and intrigues, language that charms and surprises, and even some rare and welcome humor. It does all this in a setting unusual to a novel—the world of work, in this case, a family ice making business in Florida. How does Laura Lee Smith keep that small, cold world so large and ardent hearted? The Ice House is a marvel of a novel.” — Beth Ann Fennelly, Novelist, Essayist, and Poet Laureate of Mississippi
“Laura Lee Smith continues to impress with her second novel, The Ice House. It’s a lovely story full of heart and wry humor that manages to convey life in all its rich, messy, tragic wonder. Johnny MacKinnon has it good but seems to be on the verge of losing it all. The ice company he runs in Florida is in trouble with OSHA, and then he discovers that he may have a brain tumor. While he is supposed to be taking it easy as he waits to find out the diagnosis, Johnny decides he must try to mend his estranged relationship with his son in Scotland and with the granddaughter he’s never met. The result is a touching, funny, heartbreaking ride you won’t soon forget.”— Cody Morrison, Square Books, Oxford, MS
“While this is a beautiful character-driven novel, the settings are also vividly realized, from the run-down neighborhood of Jacksonville that houses the factory to the remote town in the Scottish Highlands that Corran has retreated to in an attempt to ward off his cravings for heroin.” Indie Picks Magazine
“Smith has a flair for creating three-dimensional characters who are flawed and heroic in the small ways that most of us are, and while her literary milieu is more chamber music than symphony, she is able to rivet the reader for more than 400 pages, which is no wee accomplishment.” BookPage
“Smith is truly gifted at crafting multifaceted, deeply human characters—this was frequently noted in the reviews for Heart of Palm and is equally true for her new book. She effortlessly weaves together Ice’s multiple perspectives into a rich, moving, and often funny portrait of Johnny, Pauline, and their community. The complex dynamics and vibrant, exquisitely flawed personalities of the characters in this novel make for an immensely compelling read.” 7Switch
“Love the cover! Screams Florida. Laura Lee Smith wowed us with her first novel HEART OF PALM. I fell head over heels for that one. Have been eagerly awaiting this new novel. It was worth the wait.” Veteran book blogger “Maurice On Books.”
HEART OF PALM, (Grove Press, 2013)
“AN INCANDESCENT FIRST NOVEL.” ~ O, The Oprah Magazine
“Intelligence, heart, wit…Laura Lee Smith has all the tools and Heart of Palm is a very impressive first novel.” ~ Richard Russo, winner, 2002 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
“In the end — which comes with a delightful twist — the guilty pleasure of Heart of Palm is its steadfast tangle of rage and grief and love, a heaping dose of Southern soul with a whole lot of chutzpah thrown in.” ~ Atlanta Journal Constitution.
“Heart of Palm is Smith’s first novel, and it’s a knockout…She’s a welcome addition to the ranks of Florida writers, and Heart of Palm is a fine, bittersweet taste of the Sunshine State.” — Tampa Bay Times.
“Heart of Palm is a complex novel, finely developed with multifaceted characters…will stay with the reader long after turning the last page.” — New York Journal of Books.
“Reminiscent of the works of John Irving, with its close-knit but oddball family, weird tragedy at regular intervals, and its very dark sense of humor, this is an engrossing and enjoyable read. — Library Journal.
“…[an] unhurried family saga. Smith is a careful, detailed writer who assembles big, bold, well-drawn scenes–moments from the everyday lives of the Bravos that resonate with deeper insights into how personal regrets and longings shape the fates of all involved.” — Shelf Awareness.
“To match the expertly plotted…and tonally diverse…story, Smith’s prose fizzes with flavor…. It’s this artfully balanced mixture of creativity and craft that make Heart of Palm so undoubtedly rewarding.” — Book Reporter. Also see Q&A with Book Reporter’s Alexis Burling.
“Independence Day is a turning point for the Bravo family of small-town Utina on Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway. . . . The Bravos, once notorious Utina badasses, find their adult ties of guilt and regret beginning to frazzle as long-dormant resentments emerge. Smith’s debut novel exudes authenticity. . . . She turns a phrase with wit. . . . Writ[ten] with agility and empathy.”— Publishers Weekly.
“In a slowly, gently unfolding comedy of manners, Smith skillfully sets multiple stories in motion, most, it seems, designed to showcase the vanity of human wishes. Smith is a kind and understanding creator, and even the most venal of her characters, we see, is just trying to get by—and usually not succeeding. In the end, Smith overlaps territory John Sayles explored in Sunshine State, but with a more generous sense of our foibles. It’s a promising start—and a lot of fun.” — Kirkus Reviews.
“Heart of Palm is a beautifully written story, at times comical and crushingly sad.” — The Florida Book Review.
“I’ve just read Laura Lee Smith’s hefty, eager, and incandescent debut novel, Heart of Palm, and I can’t get the astonishing and benighted Bravos out of my head. And I don’t want to. What an extravagantly and engagingly flawed family this is! Smith is an enchanter casting her spell with lyrical prose, evocative details, and spellbinding characters. She explores familial chaos, reckless behavior, and hopeless love with grace, intelligence, and tenderness. She gives me what I long for in fiction: compassion and provocation. What talent, what nerve, what a wondrous and spellbinding story. Trust me, these Bravos will haunt your dreams.” — John Dufresne, author of Requiem, Mass.
“Laura Lee Smith masterfully creates a deep, compassionate, and often heartbreakingly funny portrait of a wild, complex Southern family on the brink of massive change while simultaneously rendering the ever-shifting identity of the New South, caught between pristine decay and the terrifying promises of development. Smith is a brilliant writer, and Heart of Palm brims with lush vitality, loss, and desire.” — Julianna Baggott, author of Pure and Girl Talk.
“I could feel the heat, the glare off the Intracoastal. Like a sandspur, Heart of Palm sticks with you, drawing blood.” — Rita Mae Brown, author of Southern Discomfort and Rubyfruit Jungle.
“From the lyrical opening that sets up this story, Laura Lee Smith’s voice moves to an earthy voice grounded in the tradition of our great yarn-spinners, giving us a Florida Cracker family saga rich in humor and vivid characters who are all-too-realistically violent, crazy, hilarious, big-hearted, and tragic. Heart of Palm is a heartily ambitious novel that’s also a real page-turner, a real story with real people in a place rendered in such palpable detail you feel you know it as well as the people who live there.” — Brad Watson, author of The Heaven of Mercury and Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives.
“Heart of Palm is a haunting tale of family, loss, love and deception that will stay with you long after you finish reading their tale. This is a wonderful debut novel not to be missed!” — Susan Schlesinger, Books on the Square, Providence, RI.
“I just finished Heart of Palm and absolutely loved it…The quote from Russo on the cover is a reminder of his writing but I must say, she is his equal.” — Gayle, Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, AZ.
“Smith tells a moving story that twists and turns in unexpected ways.” — Book blogger ProtoLibro.
“[The Bravos] are both unique and ubiquitous: one of the greatest families I’ve read about in a long time…Laura Lee Smith has just joined the ranks of the best Southern Writers. Don’t miss this one.” — Book blogger Maurice on Books.
“If I were to recommend one book this year, it would be Heart of Palm.” — Book blogger CayoCosta.
