-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
This snappy, sassy redemption story set in small-town Montana is "a wild and crazy debut novel by a talented young writer" (Jackie Collins), filled with an uproarious and unforgettable cast of characters you won't want to leave behind.
Welcome to Quinn, Montana, population: 956. A town where nearly all of the volunteer firemen are named Jim, where The Dirty Shame - the only bar in town - refuses to serve mixed drinks (too much work), where the locals hate the newcomers (then again, they hate the locals, too), and where the town softball team has never even come close to having a winning season. Until now.
Rachel Flood has snuck back into town after leaving behind a trail of chaos nine years prior. She's here to make amends, but nobody wants to hear it, especially her mother, Laverna. But with the help of a local boy named Jake and a little soul-searching, she just might make things right.
In the spirit of Empire Falls and A League of Their Own, with the caustic wit of Where'd You Go, Bernadette thrown in for good measure, Richard Fifield's hilarious and heartwarming debut will have you laughing through tears.
BookBowse Review
"The Flood Girls is a heart-warming ode to life in small-town Montana (Quinn, pop. 956) and Fifield seems to get the markers right: the spirited firemen, the spunky women's softball team and even the capable and tough Laverna, whose shaky relationship with her prodigal daughter, Rachel Flood, anchors the whimsical novel. Maybe it's a curmudgeon's take, but The Flood Girls, which is vibrantly peppy in tone, would have made for a better and more nuanced story had the rose-colored glasses come off occasionally. The relentlessly sunny optimism starts getting too blinding after a while and the "you go girl" rah-rah attitude, a tad too pat. That having been said, those looking for a feel-good dose of fiction might appreciate this charming and promising debut." - Poornima Apte
Other Reviews
"Starred Review. [The Flood Girls] includes barfights and AA meetings, a parade, a wedding, and a black bear, all of which Fifield juggles beautifully...The Wild West earns its name all over again in this lovable chronicle of small-town insanity." - Kirkus
"Fifield's debut is an exaggerated, no-holds-barred portrait of a small town that doesn't easily forget or forgive, and it turns alternately laugh-out-loud funny and sadly all-too-true. But a veer to the dark near the end of the narrative leaches some of the pleasure out of what has preceded. A notable accomplishment with a sad aftertaste." - Booklist
"From the first page of The Flood Girls, I knew Richard Fifield was a extraordinary force of nature and his debut novel a masterful tour-de-force. This novel is like Richard Russo + E. Annie Proulx + Truman Capote, if Capote were alive today and narrating a reality show about small-town Montana on Bravo. You will be awed." - Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us
"The Flood Girls is a wild and crazy debut novel by a talented young writer. Edgy and original, it's worth the trip." - Jackie Collins, New York Times bestselling author
"Reading this novel is like unwrapping the wackiest birthday gift you've ever received: The Flood Girls is a heart-shaped box filled with broads, softballs, drunks, Jackie Collins' paperbacks, music, guns, and, most vibrantly of all, humanity. I started this book laughing out loud; I finished it grieving and grateful." - Sharma Shields, author of The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac: A Novel
This information about The Flood Girls was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Richard Fifield earned his MFA from Sarah Lawrence College in upstate New York. For the past twenty years he has worked as a social worker for adults with intellectual disabilities, while volunteering as a creative writing teacher in Missoula, Montana.
If you liked The Flood Girls, try these:
by Rachel Eliza. Griffiths
Published 2024
Two Black sisters growing up in small-town New England fight to protect their home, their bodies, and their dreams as the Civil Rights Movement sweeps the nation in this "magical, magnificent novel" (Marlon James) from "a startlingly fresh voice" (Jacqueline Woodson).
by Shelley Read
Published 2023
Set amid Colorado's wild beauty, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story of a resilient young woman whose life is changed forever by one chance encounter. A tragic and uplifting novel of love and loss, family and survival—and hope.
by Jeffrey Lent
Published 2017
The sweeping, intergenerational story of a Vermont family, from WWII to the dawning of the '60s - the most magisterial and moving novel of acclaimed author Jeffrey Lent's career.
Censorship, like charity, should begin at home: but unlike charity, it should end there.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
