NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Publishers Weekly, Good Housekeeping

NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2020 BY: Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Elle Canada, Buzzfeed, Travel & Leisure, Newsweek, Pop Sugar, and more

“[An] artful tapestry of a novel … This is a remarkable story of secrecy, discovery and self-expression, delivered by a skillful observer.”

The New York Times

“One of the greatest draws of “It Is Wood, It Is Stone” is Burnham’s exquisite prose, making Linda’s shrewd observations lush and alive… brutal and unflinching.”

USA Today

“I’ll be honest: I would recommend this book based on the cover alone. Thankfully, the story inside is equally gorgeous … A lush depiction of privilege and power, sex and stability, It Is Wood, It Is Stone is an elegant arrival of a new talent.”

Elle (One of the Most Anticipated New Books of Summer)

“Captivating … Burnham dazzles by exploring the overlapping circles of need and care though tensions of race, privilege, sexuality, history, and memory. Thanks to Burnham’s precise, vivid understanding of her characters, this stranger-comes-to-town novel has the feel of a thriller as it illuminates the obligations of emotional labor. Burnham pulls off an electrifying twist on domestic fiction.”

Publisher’s Weekly (Starred Review)

“Debut novelist Gabriella Burnham knocks it out of the park with a sharp, knotty novel about colorism and class in the heart of São Paulo.”

Harper’s Bazaar (One of the Best Books of 2020)

“It Is Wood, It Is Stone is a fever dream of a book; absolutely captivating and wonderfully destabilizing. I could not put it down. It is about uprootedness, class and color, and sex. It is about women on the verge—of collapse, of escape, of self-knowledge—failing and flailing and propping one another up. It is a book about the limits of propriety and the boundlessness of grace. Burnham is a writer of such remarkable insight, it’s impossible to believe this is her debut.”

Justin Torres, author of We the Animals

“An absorbing and remarkably assured debut, It Is Wood, It Is Stone marries taut, cinematic suspense with intimate, textured domestic realism. Hits a major refresh button on the genre of psychological thriller and gives us something immensely satisfying and new.”

Jordy Rosenberg, author of Confessions of the Fox

“Intimate, unsparing, and compassionate, It Is Wood, It Is Stone is unlike anything I’ve read. It’s a portrait of a woman adrift, but more than that, it’s a reflection on race, class, and privilege, rendered in beautifully observed and textured prose that describes hazy internal weather with gimlet clarity. Gabriella Burnham writes with generosity—and with sympathy for human imperfection—and captures so well the pain, envy, and expectations in life that make up each of our pasts, and linger into our present.”

Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin