
There Is Nothing Strange
by Susan Pepper Robbins
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Pub Date 17 Jun 2016 | Archive Date 24 Nov 2017
Description
A Note From the Publisher
Susan Pepper Robbins lives in rural Virginia where she grew up. Her first novel was published when she was fifty (“One Way Home,” Random House, 1993). Her fiction has won prizes (the Deep South Prize, the Virginia Prize) and has been published in many journals. Her collection of stories “Nothing But The Weather" was published in 2014 She teaches literature and writing at Hampden-Sydney College.
Advance Praise
“In this quirky and deftly told love story, Susan Pepper Robbins writes with humor and suspense. She manages to weave tragic events with dark comedy and a heartfelt joy in characters. In There Is Nothing Strange everything is actually quite strange but in the way Midsummer Night’s Dream is strange. This tight, page turner kept me reading because I had to see where this would all end.”— Mary Morris. Author of The Jazz Palace, The Waiting Room, Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone, The Virago Book of Women Travellers, etc.
“In There is Nothing Strange, Susan Pepper Robbins blends dark humor reminiscent of Flannery O’Connor with prose that calls Virginia Woolf to mind, tautly beautiful lines and images echoing each other from page to page. In the process, she manages to breathe new life into a particular brand of southern gentry—bank poor, perhaps, but rich in land and eccentricity, family name and huge regrets, tragic histories and complicated loves. Every single one of the people in this novel is a mess and what a thrill it is to read their story.” Michael Knight, author of Divining Rod and The Typist
“There Is Nothing
Strange is a dance that waltzes the room around you but never lets you slip.
It's a tapestry of voice, insight and wisdom, woven around its lucky reader.
And it's a beautiful story told beautifully, a novel about how the past keeps
pulling at us, even as we try to press on." Tom Franklin, author of
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter and The Tilted World
Praise for Susan Pepper Robbins’ other books:
"One Way Home" breaks all the cliches. For once, we get a single mother with wit and verve and a kind, zany heart. At last we get a realistc author who doesn't slouch through the novel as if all culture and hope were dead." Carol Bly
"Here
is a unique voice, razor-sharp with humor and with sorrow, an author who lifts
the carpets of our lives for a quick peek. Like most southern writers before
her, Susan Pepper
Robbins has a strong sense of place. But what sets her work apart from the
traditional and even expands the theme is the notion that (as though she's some
wise turtle) her sense of place travels with her." Cathie Pelletier
"Robbins's truthful and
often engaging debut novel is an empathetic take on the plight of harried single
parents who work full time....In this painfully honest book, Robbins's spunky
heroine finds humor in her disheartening experiences." Publishers Weekly
"Ruth's a fast talker and she's flip. She impresses us with her nerve....lots of wit, plenty of punch." Kirkus Reviews
Available Editions
EDITION | Paperback |
ISBN | 9781910688045 |
PRICE | CA$16.99 (CAD) |
PAGES | 180 |
Featured Reviews

Thank you to the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The book starts with the wedding of Laura and Jeremy. Their best friend, Henry, is also in love with Laura and makes it abundantly clear Jeremy and Laura will divorce and Laura will marry him. No wonder I was hooked from the first page!
There are other relationships just as odd as the love triangle the book opened with. I read this in a few hours because I didn’t want to put it down! Every turn of the page had me wondering what crazy and wonderful thing would happen next!

At first, I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy "There is Nothing Strange." I had a hard time connecting to the characters, but eventually, the story picked up and made it well worth my time. Laura and Jeremy are two young twenty-somethings, getting married, but in the background is Jeremy's friend, Henry, who insists that he will someday be Laura's "second husband." Laura's parents, Rebecca and Weldon, have been married for over twenty years, but have been separated on and off for a good deal of that time. The book focuses not only on Rebecca and Weldon's difficult marital struggles, but also alarming events that take place on Laura's honeymoon. She returns home to her parents, tattered and torn, in a state of shock and can't entirely explain what happened to her. The ever-loyal Henry is there to attempt to restore her to her former self. The prose is excellent. The story comes together in a heartfelt, realistic way. A slow burn book - worth the initial efforts.