Critical Praise

"Smith excels at creating characters somewhat boggled by the reality of who they've become."

——Publishers Weekly

"Smith writes beautifully, evocatively and believably about women and their feelings....What Smith doesn't write, what she leaves in the tiny spaces between sentences, between narrative moments, is as important as what she insists our attention be turned to....Above all, she delights in storytelling, in the sounds of words and the ways that they relate to meaning, to memory and to the mayhem we do to ourselves and others, with the blessings thrown in that things can sometimes be made whole to our advantage."

——Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Smith's collection will not disappoint her fans."

——The New York Times Book Review

"Delightful...comical...Smith never forgets that a great artist makes her craft appear effortless. With News of the Spirit, she takes that one step further: she appears to be having fun."

——Bookpage