Saturday, November 9 from 2 PM to 4 PM
A Word with the Author—No More Empty Spaces by D. J. Green
D. J. Green will be speaking about her debut novel, No More Empty Spaces, at the Placitas Community Library on Saturday, November 9, 2024 at 2 p.m. If you like reading or writing or rocks, this is the event for you!
As No More Empty Spaces opens, it’s the summer of 1973 and Will Ross (a divorced American geologist) has signed on to work on a troubled dam in a remote, rugged part of Turkey. He decides to take his children with him, but they think they’re only going for their usual two-week stint of shared custody, not to live there. Once in Turkey, Will struggles for control—of his family, his work, the landscape, and ultimately, himself.
Winner of the 2024 International Book Award for Best New Fiction and the Next Generation Indie Book Award for General Fiction, this gripping story will make you think about how you relate to yourself, your family, and the Earth.
Praise for No More Empty Spaces
“Love is never simple. If we do it right, it costs everything. This sensitive, probing novel made me rethink what it means to have mastery: in a discipline; in a relationship; ultimately over our own flawed selves. These characters battle it out and emerge transformed, learning to trust one another to fill the cracks and empty spaces life doles out.”
—Summer Wood, author of Arroyo and Raising Wrecker
“No More Empty Spaces takes us on a surprising twist-filled journey into not only a remote area of Turkey, but the remote places of the human heart. The protagonist, a geologist hired to work on a dangerous dam, must also confront his own dangerous behaviors. Redemption lies in mindful care of self, family, and planet. Indeed, that is the hard work all the characters confront, leading them—and the reader—to fresh ideas about how to fill the empty spaces within us all.”
—Laura Pritchett, winner of the PEN USA Award for Fiction
“In Green’s poignant debut novel, the drama of rocks beautifully parallels the unfolding emotional drama, and the dam is both a fully rendered physical entity and a powerful metaphor. The story of the Ross family feels so real, and so engaging, I rooted for all of them until the deeply satisfying ending. No More Empty Spaces is a riveting and thought-provoking page-turner about love, commitment, growth, and adapting to change. I loved it.”
—Kate Christensen, author of Welcome Home, Stranger
“Green’s prose is tender and keenly observant . . . . A fascinating and frequently moving novel of family and geology.”
—Kirkus Reviews
