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KNIFE RIVER
by Justine Champine

KNIFE RIVER by Justine Champine

A Dial Press Hardcover

On Sale: May 28, 2024

Rights sold to date: UK/BC to Bonnier Books

Previously circulated:

A Most Anticipated Mystery and Thriller Book of 2024 by Paste

“A twisting, engrossing and beautiful mystery. Thrilling, yet also deeply moving, layered and powerful.”

—Chris Whitaker, author of We Begin at the End

“Compelling.”

—Paste

"Knife River is a gorgeous, magnetic portrait of two sisters whose lives are shattered by the loss of their mother. Part mystery, part investigation into the nature of loss, this novel is both startlingly beautiful and unputdownable. Justine Champine has written a knockout debut."

—Danielle Trussoni, New York Times bestselling author of The Puzzle Master

“With the wry, crackling humor of Sally Rooney and Ottessa Moshfegh, and a grip on the darkest, prickliest corners of human behavior, Justine Champine will be read and championed as one of the greats. Knife Riveris completely singular in vision, skill, and oneiric, haunting atmosphere; Champine writes dykes, outsiders, and desire like no one else. Her work is transcendent, tender, unforgettable.”

—T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

“A delicious smoke curl of a novel: atmospheric, sharp, and skilled at twisting the reader’s guesses in unimaginable ways."

—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Knife River is an intelligent literary mystery with a rich sense of place and a clever plot; but it is Champine’s keenly-observed depiction of the aftermath of tragedy and the corrosive impact of loss that sets this novel apart.”

—Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Knife River is a twisty, intoxicating book. The beating heart of it is raw and tender, full of guilt and heartache and hope. It's a genuine and unsettling look at how loss can divide a family, but it's also a story about the long and difficult ways we finally make our way back home. Justine Champine is a very gifted writer and readers are going to be hooked on Knife River.”

—Kristen Arnett, author of With Teeth

“Beautifully written, gripping and poignant, Knife River is a moving debut about love, women and buried secrets.”

—Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Translation

Justine Champine is a fresh new voice in upmarket fiction and in this gripping, atmospheric novel we are confronted not only with an unsolved small-town murder, but going much deeper than that, the blurry memories of childhood and the slow exposure of deep fractures that trauma can cause. KNIFE RIVER is an electrifying character study—a story about survival, secrets, and the complexity of love between women: in romantic relationships, in transgenerational friendships, and especially between sisters.

A young woman returns home after fifteen years to her claustrophobic and conservative home town. When Jess was thirteen, her mother went for a walk and did not come back. Jess and her older sister never found out what happened and as soon as she was old enough, Jess fled for New York City, where she essentially goes from girlfriend to girlfriend like a ghost in her own life, somewhat adrift and aimless. The moment she gets a call that her mother's remains may have been found, she immediately jumps in her car to drive to Knife River and her childhood home where her sister still lives—all of it seemingly frozen in time. As days turn into weeks, Jess’s understanding of the past, her sister, and herself become more and more complicated—and the list of suspects more and more ominous.

Justine Champine’s short fiction has appeared in Kenyon Review, Epoch, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and is a founding staff member of No Tokens Journal. She lives and writes in New York City, where she has served as an organizer on the NYC Dyke March Committee and at the Lesbian Herstory Archives in resource digitization. Knife River is her first novel.