Women and Children First

"While a young woman's violent death sounds like the setup for a murder mystery story, in Grabowki's deft hands, it becomes something richer and more surprising: an opportunity to capture the people left in her wake at their most honest, flawed, & insightful. Once you get into these women's heads, they will never get out of yours." —Oprah Daily

A gripping literary puzzle that unwinds the private lives of ten women as they confront tragedy in a small Massachusetts town.

Nashquitten, MA, is a decaying coastal enclave that not even tourist season can revive, full of locals who have run the town's industries for generations. When a young woman dies at a house party, the circumstances around her death suspiciously unclear, the tight-knit community is shaken. As a mother grieves her daughter, a teacher her student, a best friend her confidante, the events around the tragedy become a lightning rod: blame is cast, secrets are buried deeper. Some are left to pick up the pieces, while others turn their backs, & all the while, a truth about that dreadful night begins to emerge.

Told through the eyes of ten local women, Grabowski’s Women and Children First is an exquisite portrait of grief & a powerful reminder of life’s interconnectedness. Touching on womanhood, class, and sexuality, ambition, disappointment, & tragedy, this novel is a stunning rendering of love & loss, & a bracing lesson from a phenomenal new literary talent that no one walks this earth alone.

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Alina Grabowski grew up in coastal Massachusetts & holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania & Vanderbilt University. Her writing has appeared in Story, The Masters Review, Joyland, The Adroit Journal, & Day One. She has received scholarships from Aspen Summer Words, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, & the Juniper Summer Writing Institute. She lives in Austin, Texas.