PRAISE FOR
Hannah’s Dream
“Irresistibly touching, delectably uplifting, Hammond’s understated yet gargantuan tale of devotion and commitment poignantly proves that love does indeed come in all shapes and sizes.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Diane Hammond writes with heart, compassion, and humor. With subtle assurance, she invites you to fall in love with Sam and Winslow and Neva and Corinna and Truman and Max and, of course, Hannah, the beloved elephant that ties them all together. A generously told tale that will stick with you long after the last page is turned.”
—Terry Gamble, author of Good Family and The Water Dancers
“While it’s easy to guess the outcome of Hannah’s Dream, its predictability lends to its charm. It helps that Hammond’s writing never becomes overly sappy. She treats each of her characters with a tenderness that draws sympathy rather than groans. And she’s no stranger to the bond between humans and animals: In the mid–1990s she was part of the rehabilitation team of Keiko, the killer whale in the Free Willy movies, at the Oregon Coast Aquarium…. Hannah’s Dream runs at a quick pace but feels substantial, and the humorous bits sprinkled throughout make it a very satisfying read.”
—Portland Oregonian
“A pleasure to read. Hannah’s Dream is gently unpredictable. It’s full of suspense—but not unbearable suspense. There’s a missing document, a devoted pig, and a villain with a pith helmet and a riding crop. Most of all, there’s an elephant and the people who really love her.”
—Susan McCarthy, author of Becoming a Tiger and coauthor of When Elephants Weep
PRAISE FOR
Homesick Creek
“Homesick Creek follows two troubled marriages and an enduring friendship through some exceptionally difficult midlife straits, and does so with sensitivity and intelligence. Given the material, this could be a three-hankie job, but the story never turns maudlin, thanks to Hammond’s clean prose, pitch-perfect dialogue, and keen eye for social detail…. Homesick Creek is an honest, finely nuanced, emotionally rich novel.”
—Boston Globe
“Hammond digs into the past, revealing bad decisions and their consequences, desperate acts of courage, kindness that sometimes is not enough to save or redeem. And woven throughout are insights, sprinkled with humor, on marriage and friendship. Homesick Creek is an honest, beautifully written book.”
—Denver Post
PRAISE FOR
Going to Bend
“Plucky…. Hammond depicts a place and a community with a fine eye for the details of small-town life…. Hammond excels with snappy dialogue, and has written a humorous, moving and lively novel of friendship and healing.”
—Seattle Times
“An exceptional debut…. Hammond’s depiction of the town and its people is refreshingly unsentimental: poverty and bad luck have not created endearing rascals and wise earth mothers…. A portrait of the hard-scrabble life: moving and deftly told.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“[A] witty, revealing and enthralling novel that deals with important issues…. Confident…tightly constructed, written in a deceptively loose style [with] characters so real you’ll swear you could walk out of your home and go have a beer with them…. Going to Bend has a marvelous story, the sort that keeps you reading longer than you’d planned. In fact, you’d best set aside a large block of reading time, because once you’ve started reading this book, you won’t want to stop.”
—Statesman Journal (Oregon)
“Hammond shines an unwavering light on a group of people who struggle to make do, yet who live their lives and cope with hardship with grace and dignity. Her clean, sharp prose, idiosyncratic dialogue and deep insight into relationships embellish this heartfelt debut.”
—Publishers Weekly