"Quick and clear as glass, evocative and engaging,
Down City is a story of a daughter's moving search for the truth about the parents whose dark complexities have left a mystery at the center of her existence." (George Hodgman, author of
Bettyville)
"Leah Carroll's Rhode Island is seedy, charismatic, broke-down, and irresistible: so much like the characters in her gripping heartbreak of a memoir. Only a writer as brave in her heart as she is on the page could make us love the ghosts she chases through police reports, memory, and the desolate landmarks of her own tragedy. Leah Carroll is that writer, proving that no matter who haunts you or for how long, only forgiveness can set you free." (Melissa Febos, author of
Whip Smart and
Abandon Me)
"Carroll's understated prose complements this daunting material, and her struggles as an unhappy, rebellious teen seem almost idyllic in contrast to the dysfunction and tragedy that shadow her...Carroll's determined grappling with the burden of her past is honestly and skillfully done." (
Publishers Weekly)