''Secrets and revenge haunt a Mississippi plantation in Pale, the potent debut novel... Readers will hang on each page, just as Bernice feels bound to stay until the story is done. This intergenerational story of racism, patriarchy, and vengeance is one that will not soon be forgotten.'' --Shelf Awareness (starred review)
 
''The plot and writing are evocative of the work of the late Ernest Gaines; it's a story simply and directly told, and by that simplicity and directness it exposes familial cruelties and kindnesses in equal measure. This is a promising beginning for a writer who, whether he realizes it or not, continues a rich and lyrical narrative tradition. A beautiful first novel.'' --Library Journal (starred review)

''A beautifully complex story Though time in Pale seems fungible, the world Farmer has created is specific and visceral, cushioned with bitter cotton bolls and weighted by heavy summer clouds. It is a masterful achievement.'' --Washington Independent Review of Books