The Nature of Remains
Winner of the AWP Award for the Novel
Books All Georgians Should Read, 2021
Georgia Author of the Year Award, 2021
Praise for The Nature of Remains
“With the wrenching simplicity of Kent Haruf and the dark southern lyricism of Daniel Woodrell, Ginger Eager has generated a story that’s tragic and restrained, piercing, compassionate, and incredibly wise in the ways of human nature. Like the amethysts that make up the book’s thematic core, the characters are shaped by powerful forces from within and without. They fracture and yield. They cleave blindly to the very patterns that will destroy them.”
— Paula McLain
When the Stars go Dark
“Ginger Eager is a fresh, unflinching voice in Southern literature. The Nature of Remains isn’t afraid to explore the complexities of domestic violence or poverty—or what women end up sacrificing as they try to avoid both. This a book that will keep you in its spell even as it breaks your heart.”
— Anna Schachner
You and I and Someone Else
“Ginger Eager’s evocative debut sings with the true cadence of the South. Her writing is sure and graceful, her characters both fully- formed and flawed. Doreen Swilley is a feminist everyman, and her struggles to find justice and softness in the hardscrabble world Eager renders so truthfully broke my heart in all the best ways. The Nature of Remains is a story that will linger in your mind and heart, told beautifully by a writer of rare talent. Don’t miss it.”
—Joshilyn Jackson
The Almost Sisters
“The Nature of Remains is the excellent first novel by Georgia native Ginger Eager. Its characters ran true to me in a way that’s far too rare, full of telling details and never predictable. I literally didn’t want to put it down.”