January 9, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kera Yonker, kerayonker@gmail.com
Caroline Frost Wins $5000 Crook’s Corner Book Prize for Debut Novel
SHADOWS OF PECAN HOLLOW
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, January 9, 2023—Shadows of Pecan Hollow by Caroline Frost, published by William Morrow, is the winner of the tenth annual Crook’s Corner Book Prize for the best debut novel set in the American South.
Chosen by this year’s judge, National Book Award Finalist Ben Fountain, Shadows of Pecan Hollow is a hauntingly intimate and distinctly original debut about the complexity of love—both romantic and familial—and the bonds that define us.
Fountain says, “With Shadows of Pecan Hollow, Caroline Frost delivers a stunner of a debut novel that reads more like the work of an accomplished master. Everything you could want in a novel is here: rich, evocative settings, conflicted loyalties and hearts, and a slow fuse of a plot that throws off plenty of sparks on its way to final ignition. This immersive, full-bodied novel will keep its hooks in you long after the last page is read, and marks the arrival of a tremendously wise and talented writer. I think we can look forward to many more fine books from Caroline Frost.”
The winner was chosen from the Shortlist announced in September 2022. The three shortlisted titles also included All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris (Morrow/HarperCollins) and Bewilderness by Karen Tucker (Catapult).
Caroline Frost has a Master of Professional Writing degree from the University of Southern California and is a licensed marriage and family therapist. Although she currently resides in Pasadena, California with her husband and three small children, her roots in Texas run deep. Shadows of Pecan Hollow is her first novel.
The Crook’s Corner Book Prize, established as a collaboration between the iconic Southern restaurant Crook’s Corner, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the Crook’s Corner Book Prize Foundation, was inspired by the prestigious book awards long given by famous “literary cafés” in Paris.
Submissions are now open for next year’s Prize. For more information on the Prize and submission guidelines, please visit www.crookscornerbookprize.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
