“Quiet but satisfying … Haunting … Kenny reveals, with a clarity so delicate it is sometimes painful, the human reaction to trauma.”
- Ann Leary, New York Times Book Review

“[An] impressive debut novel…Kenny’s thoughtful, finely crafted work is an eloquent reminder that the breadth of a world matters less than the depth of a character.”
- Kirkus (starred review)

“Quiet and moving . . . With a light touch, Kenny tells an impactful story of everyday lives in trying circumstances.”
- Booklist

“The Driest Season evokes the naive confusion of teenage years, particularly when tragedy strikes. Set in a rural community during the 1940s, this novel reminds us that human frailty, loyalty, and the yearning to understand life never goes away. The past was not better or safer. It’s where we all once were young.”
- Chris Offutt, author of My Father, the Pornographer

“A searing debut. Meghan Kenny writes an almost unbearable moment in a young woman’s life with precision and tenderness, ache and hope. I was grateful for each page.”
- Ramona Ausubel, author of Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty and No One Is Here Except All of Us

“The Driest Season settled over me like weather: sweeping in, wholly immersive, charged with coming change. In clear-eyed, chiseled prose that perfectly captures her novel’s hard-worn world and the powerful emotions churning through its people, Meghan Kenny manages, with wisdom and tenderness, to grapple with some of the greatest struggles of the human heart: grief and the gathering of oneself out of its dust, love and the loss that is ‘a space like an empty piece of sky’ following young Cielle around. A lingering power that, long after the last page of this moving story, follows me too.”
- Josh Weil, author of The Age of Perpetual Light

“The Driest Season marks the arrival of a new writer with talent, intention, and a story to tell. The words are spare, beautiful, poetic, even prayerful. They hold you inside your chest where lies your heart and the place you breathe. A brilliant debut.”
- Robert Olmstead, author of Coal Black Horse

"An elegant coming-of-age story that brings real heart to the American heartland. The book may be set during World War II, but the questions it asks―about love, loyalty, and the meaning of life―are timeless ones." ―Elliott Holt, author of You Are One of Them