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Critical Praise

"Once Upon a Day is a smart, compelling story about the ungainliness of familial and romantic love. Tucker's quietly and yet wildly ambitious novel is a subtle, witty deconstruction of fairy tales and a graceful tour de force of storytelling."

——Mark Winegardner, author, Crooked River Burning and The Godfather Returns

"Lisa Tucker gives me what I want most from fiction: compassion and provocation. Once Upon a Day is her most impressive novel to date."

——John Dufresne, author, Louisiana Power & Light and Love Warps the Mind a Little

"Tucker's outstanding novel is as structurally dextrous as it is emotionally satisfying, boasting a chorus of extraordinary voices. An exceptionally empathetic storyteller, Tucker has created a haunting, gripping novel that brims with graceful writing and fragile characters. Devour it as a page-turner about parenting and family or discuss its subtle meditations on fate and coincidence, wealth and poverty, fairy tales and American dreams."

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"The spirit of Jane Eyre looms over Once Upon a Day. Lisa Tucker keeps the plot of this gothic novel bubbling with tons of juicy family secrets."

——Stewart O'Nan