PRAISE FOR BRET LOTT "A beautifully crafted first-person epic of one poor Southern woman's personal duel with God . . . This is a voice we don't want to stop hearing. . . . Some of the tenderest scenes of family love since those in Dickens."--"Chicago Tribune "Lott is one of the most important and imaginative writers in America today. His eye for detail is unparalleled, his vision--where he looks--is like no one else's in this country."--"Los Angeles Times "Bret Lott has a gift for making the ordinary seem luminous. In Jewel, he applies his art to a broad canvas and produces what may stand as his masterpiece. . . . Lott matches the honest strength of his characters with that of his prose. His Jewel is a force of nature, her story rising out of a perfect, seamless union of teller and tale."--"The Boston Globe