"Still Life is vibrantly, brilliantly alive—by turns steely and delicate, wintry and warm, tart and bittersweet, elegiac and joyous. Just like the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim (this novel’s patron saint, quietly ever-present), Katherine Packert Burke’s writing is cerebral and exquisitely precise yet brimming with feeling." -James Frankie Thomas, author of Idlewild

"Katherine Packert Burke’s Still Life is everything you want from a Künstlerroman: smart, sexy, funny, sly, and exceptionally queer. With biting insights and heartbreaking attention, this debut captures the daunting thrill of becoming an artist while becoming yourself." -Isle McElroy, author of People Collide

"Katherine Packert Burke has written such a warm book on red-state trans loneliness and the very real loves, cis and trans, that circle it. I love the jokes and nicknames; the riffs on Paul Cézanne, Stephen Sondheim, and Gossip Girl; and the care with which its three core characters face their losses and departures. I loved them—and more importantly, Burke does too. You’ll feel it." -Jeanne Thornton, author of Summer Fun

"A stunning elegy to all the lives we cannot live and a celebration of becoming yourself. Katherine Packert Burke vividly captures the nuance, heartbreak, and wonder of traveling your one path—the torture of what ifs, the deep bodily pleasure of community, and the ongoing adventure of self-knowledge. Throughout?Still Life,?I felt so close to Edith, and I’ll be thinking of her for a long, long time." -Alyssa Songsiridej, author of Little Rabbit