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Beware the Tall Grass: A Novel Paperback – March 15, 2024

by Ellen Birkett Morris (Author)
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 9 ratings
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Beware the Tall Grass weaves the stories of the Sloans, a modern family grappling with their young son Charlie’s troubling memories of a past life as a soldier in Vietnam, and Thomas Boone, a young man caught up in the drama of mid-sixties America who is sent to Vietnam. Eve Sloan is challenged as a mother to make sense of Charlie’s increasing references to war, and her attempts to get to the bottom of Charlie’s past life memories threaten her marriage, while Thomas struggles with loss and first love, before being thrust into combat and learning what matters most. Beware the Tall Grass explores the power of love and mercy with grace and artful sensitivity in a world where circumstances often occur far beyond our control.
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  1. Print length
    244 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Columbus State University Press
  4. Publication date
    March 15, 2024
  5. Dimensions
    5.7 x 1.5 x 8.2 inches
  6. ISBN-13
    979-8988732105
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Beware the Tall Grass moves at a wonderful pace and that all loose ends tie together by the novel's conclusion. More intriguing than the outcomes, however, is the way Eve deals with gaslighting, feeling dismissed, having to advocate for her child in the face of opposing forces—issues mothers often find themselves contending with. Eve has much to teach us about perseverance, courage, and growth, and Beware the Tall Grass is a captivating exploration of relationships, life's mysteries, and above all, the healing power of love. -- Diane Gottlieb, Mom Egg Review

The Twilight Zone-like considerations of past-life memories — a documented but certainly controversial and very certainly under-understood phenomenon — are only part of this book's opening up of a wealth of dimensions including generational reckoning, plus parental stresses that might not be exclusive to the current day. We all may be forever reconstructing ourselves through our relationships, over and over. But as we mature, and reflect (and refract) on a past of our minds' ideal, we might be building on a foundation that is also susceptible to influences beyond our understanding. This author cleanly captures a complex scenario that carries some devastating depth — especially those ready to open their minds to wonder. -- T. E. Lyons, LEO Weekly

Review

This debut novel is mysterious and lucid, rich and poignant, as Ellen Birkett Morris creates two sets of memorable characters and follows them in gripping stories about love and loss, family and parenthood, with real war as their backdrop, and pain and redemption as their resonant outcomes.

In this beautiful novel, two stories separated by half a century intertwine to create an indelible narrative of peace and war. In the throes of his first loss, young Thomas joins the Army and travels to Vietnam, where he is propelled toward his fate. Decades later, in another time and place, Eve and Daniel welcome their infant son and resolve to set aside their own family ghosts. But is it possible to release the past? Can powerful experiences of love and death ever be forgotten? Through surprising and suspenseful turns, Beware the Tall Grass explores the evocative mysteries of time and memory.

A young man’s coming-of-age in 1960s Missoula and the fields of Vietnam; a young family’s struggle many years later to understand the deep-hidden trauma of their young son; Ellen Birkett Morris’s compelling debut novel, Beware the Tall Grass, explores the invisible, inexplicable connections of our souls across time and space. Masterful and deeply moving, Morris engages our hearts and challenges us to accept, and embrace, the transcendent nature of our being.

Beware the Tall Grass explores the collision of past and present, courage and fear, and love and death like nothing I've read before—a splendid novel. Morris's first-person protagonists jump off the page. Each of them, like ourselves, must deal with emotional baggage while trying to create a new reality: a family filled with trust and love.

The past and the lives lived there are never really gone. They haunt the present in Ellen Birkett Morris’s novel, Beware the Tall Grass. Written with a sure hand and a clear eye, this novel is a story of two families—one that suffers a tragic loss and one that endures. Two fast-paced storylines come together in a memorable end in this moving story of a mother’s love.

This juxtaposition of two seemingly unrelated voices and plot lines creates a built-in tension that keeps the reader turning pages...Beware the Tall Grass is a captivating exploration of relationships, life's mysteries, and above all, the healing power of love.

After finishing Beware the Tall Grass, [...] will the reader relish in the rewards of experiencing a story well-told? Yes. No question about that.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CP356D3Y
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Columbus State University Press (March 15, 2024)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 244 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8988732105
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.7 x 1.5 x 8.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 9 ratings

About the author

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Ellen Birkett Morris

Ellen Birkett Morris

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Ellen Birkett Morris’s novel Beware the Tall Grass is the winner of the Donald L. Jordan Award for Literary Excellence, judged by Lan Samantha Chang, and published by CSU Press in March 2024. She is the author of Lost Girls: Short Stories, winner of the Pencraft Award and finalist for the Clara Johnson, IAN and Best Book awards. Her fiction has appeared in Shenandoah, Antioch Review, Notre Dame Review, and South Carolina Review, among other journals. She is a winner of the Bevel Summers Prize for short fiction. Morris is a recipient of an Al Smith Fellowship for her fiction from the Kentucky Arts Council.

Morris is also the author of Abide and Surrender, poetry chapbooks. Her poetry has appeared in The Clackamas Literary Review, Juked, Gastronomica, and Inscape, among other journals and in eight anthologies. Morris won top prize in the 2008 Binnacle Ultra-Short Edition and was a finalist for the 2019 and 2020 Rita Dove Poetry Prize. Her poem “Abide” was featured on NPR’s A Way with Words. Her essays have appeared in Newsweek, AARP’s The Ethel, Oh Reader magazine, and on National Public Radio.

Morris holds an MFA in creative writing from Queens University-Charlotte. She attended the Kentucky Women Writers Conference on fellowship and teaches creative writing at The Virginia Piper Center at ASU in Tempe, Arizona and The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in Lexington, Kentucky. Morris has spoken and taught at the 2018 Antioch Writers Workshop, 2019 Kentucky Women Writers Conference, 2022 Writer’s Block Festival and 2022 Louisville Book Festival.

Customer reviews

5 out of 5 stars
5 out of 5
9 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Lynn Slaughter
5.0 out of 5 stars A Deeply Moving Novel by Award-Winning Author Ellen Birkett Morris
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2024
Verified Purchase
BEWARE THE TALL GRASS tells the inextricably intertwined stories of two people. One is Thomas Boone, who comes of age in the 1960s and experiences his first major loss and love before being shipped to Vietnam after joining the Army. The other is a mother, Eve Sloan, who wants to give her son a joyful, problem-free childhood unlike the one she experienced, only to discover that her little boy has somehow inherited memories from Thomas’s life decades earlier.

Both the horrors of the war Thomas experienced and Eve’s struggles to get help for her son are beautifully evoked, and I dare anyone to read this exquisite novel without shedding a tear.

For a deeply moving reading experience, I highly recommend BEWARE THE TALL GRASS.
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movie lover
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2024
Love this story of a mother's love and a sensitive solider. Hard to put down.
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Ethel Rohan
5.0 out of 5 stars Tender, poignant, and moving
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2024
A tender, poignant novel with dual timelines and points-of-view. I found Eve's determination to be a better mother than her own, and to give her son a better childhood than the one she experienced, to be especially relatable. I'm also fascinated by the possibility of reincarnation and past-life memories and was gripped by those elements in this prize-winning debut novel. I love that in this story, as in life, the power of love is limitless and what is and is not possible remains both a mystery and an invitation.
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Dan Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book of the year.
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2024
Ellen is a master of character, plot, and can braid a story that leaves you yearning for conclusion while also leaving you sad that it’s over.
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Kim Haydon
5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling Story with Haunting Connections
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2024
I finished this book in just a few days. A great read! The idea of a young child holding memories from an adult in a totally different era was fascinating. The dual storylines between the child and the Vietnam soldier was a wonderful way to tell this story. I was hooked from the first few pages. Wonderful book!
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lyrics
5.0 out of 5 stars Emotionally resonant, beautiful prose
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2024
This is beautifully written novel, that left me in tears by the conclusion. Told from two different points of view, a mother's and a young Vietnam soldier, the novel's overlapping storylines will move and surprise the reader.
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ruby star
5.0 out of 5 stars What a unique story!
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2024
Really enjoyed this read. Felt subjects were well researched. Characters were fully developed and I wanted to move in with them and offer hugs Fiction but could be an amazing biography - very believable
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Robert McCready
5.0 out of 5 stars worth the read
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2024
i liked that this book started off as maximalist and became spare and minimalist. morris weaves 2 stories from different times every other chapter which keeps you reading. i’m curious about past life memories. this story doesn’t take a stand on whether or not they exist, but it explores the experience of having them. it’s a short read. had the opportunity to interview her on X and the audio is on you tube at evening magic.
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