Advance Praise:

“I love stories that take leaps, and Sister Creatures does so with gusto—the novel is a creative whirlwind, starting when a struggling young woman named Tess is visited by a strange girl. The events of that night follow and shape Tess, as well as several other characters, no matter how many years pass, or how far she travels. Green’s novel investigates the very human truth that we carry our pasts with us. The question is whether we—and these characters—can do so with grace, or if we’re destined to sink under its weight.”–Ann Napolitano, author of Hello Beautiful

“Captivating and sublime, Laura Venita Green’s Sister Creatures weaves together a series of hauntings: of the past, of the home and family, of the secrets kept inside that threaten an ever-delicate peace. Set at first within an uncanny reflection of Green’s native Louisiana and centered on a cast of women bound to their roots in unexpected ways, this is a book that interchanges the tender and the cruel, the weird and the real, with breathtaking ease.” –Jinwoo Chong, author of I Leave It Up to You

“Green’s is a wholly original voice, at once countrified, cosmopolitan, ominous, and downright funny. Sister Creatures is the type of book readers will want to return to again and again, both for its sprawling scope and its sharply-observed characters. I am in awe of Green’s electric use of language and absolutely bowled over by her daringly inventive approach to story. This is an auspicious debut from a writer who exudes stylistic confidence.”—Brian Castleberry, author of The Californians and Nine Shiny Objects

“An astonishing novel so virtuosic it reintroduced me to the wilderness within myself. You can’t convince me Green isn’t a shapeshifter.” –Kat Tang, author of Five-Star Stranger

“A brilliant debut about all the gorgeous, messy exhilaration of living and creating. Rarely have I met characters as gloriously alive as the women who people SISTER CREATURES: full to the brim of urgent ambitions, the muck of their compulsions, and a deep desire to love well. Laura Venita Green is a dazzling new talent, and I loved every page of this novel.”—Clare Beams, author of The Garden and The Illness Lesson

“Sister Creatures is an arresting blend of dirty realism and Southern Gothic, telling multiple coming-of-age stories that intertwine in a wholly original way. It amuses, engages, and unsettles, defying and exceeding all readerly expectations.” –James Crossley, Leviathan Books, St. Louis, MO

“I was blown away by Laura Venita Green’s debut novel, Sister Creatures. The stories of four women, loosely connected by their small Louisiana town, connect, break, and re-connect through their lives and experiences. These indelible characters are driven by their desire for something more, more than the lives they find themselves in. The Gothic undertones of the novel — fairy tale references, weirdly threatening triplets, dark woods where dark things happen — shift the perspective from mundane to something strange and magical as these very human stories play out. A must-read!” –Laurie Gillman, East City Bookshop, Washington, D.C.

“An enthralling and engrossing debut, Sister Creatures invites the reader into the tangled family lives and thorny psyches of the women of Pinecreek, Louisiana. I could read an entire book on each narrator and still come back for more.” –Katherine Nazzaro, Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA

“With Sister Creatures, Laura Venita Green invites her reader to navigate a shape-shifting world, beginning in rural Louisiana and ranging overseas and into starscapes and imagination . . . This novel remains thought-provoking long after its final pages . . . “From rural Louisiana to locations around the globe, the same problems and secrets follow a quartet of girls-become-women in this arresting, unnerving, and wise debut novel.” —Shelf Awareness

“Give me more books like this. Green grabbed me on page one and didn’t let me go. She has a pitch-perfect tone and pace. I felt like I lived in Pinecreek, Louisiana, where feral girls kick off a chain of events that consume the novel, for ages, and I never want to leave it. Her voice is one we’ll be reading for years to come.” –Debutiful

“A literary gyre with a small, religious Louisiana town at its center, Sister Creatures, Laura Venita Green’s dazzling debut novel, follows the interconnected stories of haunted, hopeful women . . . A thrilling, ever-changing metanarrative pulses beneath the central story . . . A sensuous and electric novel, Sister Creatures follows three Southern women as they run far from home, only to find that home’s patterns, prejudices, and particulars inform them everywhere..” —Foreword Reviews

“Green blends elements of folklore and magical realism into a thematically rich and descriptive exploration of sexual identity, generational trauma, familial obligation, and the bond between people and their environment . . .

VERDICT A short read that touches on complex issues in a meaningful way.” —Library Journal