Praise

From the Critics:

"The living, breathing organism that is Ms. Haigh's captivating book... [is an] effortlessly haunting story... with satisfyingly real and vivid individuals... Ms. Haigh writes with an unflinching eye on how this tightly knit world works... beyond being an expert natural storyteller with an acute sense of her characters' humanity, [she] sustains a clear sense of Bakerton's vitality, or lack thereof... Like Richard Russo's Empire Falls, Bakerton is a place in transition... this book has the heart to end, credibly and unsentimentally, on a note of rebirth. And Bakerton is utterly, entrancingly alive on the page even as it is supposed to be fading away."
-New York Times

"Forget postmodern alienation: Reading Baker Towers is the literary equivalent of rifling through a thrift shop's rack of 1940s house dresses. Here is a novel that feels vintage, but in the very best way... in prose rich in sensual detail, [Jennifer Haigh] weaves the multigenerational saga... With the fiercely observed Baker Towers, Haigh proves herself a fine storyteller, one with as much staying power as her characters. Mining her own rural Pennsylvania roots, she has created a heartfelt-and heart-rending-tale."
-People Magazine, Critic's Choice, Four Stars

"[In] Jennifer Haigh's ambitious, elegiac second novel, Baker Towers... Haigh is interested in what's hidden from view, in questions of cultural and economic invisibility and, especially, in the unsung hopes and sacrifices of ordinary lives... The lasting power of this novel is in Haigh's gift for capturing the long view and for putting Bakerton itself -- its history and community -- on the literary map... Haigh's skill for summary and keen sense of detail make for evocative visual moments and overviews... Haigh's palpable evocation of 1940s and '50s Bakerton -- the community portrait -- is the novel's gift... Baker Towers is, finally, a rich portrait of place, its meaning not in the towers themselves but in the community that created them, and Haigh's readers will empathize with Lucy Novak's wish to remain."
-The Washington Post

"An elegant, elegiac multigenerational saga about a small coal-mining community in western Pennsylvania that shows how talented she really is... Fast on the heels of her PEN/Hemingway-winning... first novel (Mrs. Kimble, 2003), Haigh turns a careful, loving eye on the sociology of the town of Bakerton... Almost mythic in its ambition, somewhere between Oates and Updike country, and thoroughly satisfying."
-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Haigh has constructed a hypnotic portrait of a coal-country mining town that spans a quarter century and captures wistfully the demise of the culture... [Haigh] is capable of creating flesh and blood characters are authentic and idiosyncratic... The novel is constructed around consciously small moments of ordinary domesticity... In page after page Haigh demonstrates her profound ability to illuminate the personal encounters and minor revelations that make up a life, while offering a crisp, insightful snapshot of a particular place and time."
-Chris Bohjalian in the Boston Globe

"Jennifer Haigh gets a memorable grip on family and locale in her vivid novel Baker Towers... It's hard to escape... the characterizations and the texture Haigh conjures so effectively carry this largely superb novel. Haigh's tone is pitch-perfect, her grasp of psychology, masterly. The way Joyce Novak develops, overcoming the chill in her loins to connect with the warmth of her heart, is but one example of a command equal to those of Richard Russo and Anne Tyler, novelists who also examine the large issues that roil small towns. Baker Towers isn't perfect, but it sure is close."
-Denver Post

"Haigh creates a real sense of a community and brings her mining town to life through a large cast of minor characters... Baker Towers is a novel possessing a rare, quiet power to evoke a time long past and the character of the people who lived then."
-Booklist (starred review)

"[Haigh] writes convincingly of family and small town relations, as well as of the intractable frustrations of American poverty... Haigh's solid story-telling could make this a big seller."
-Publishers Weekly

"Jennifer Haigh stakes a claim for a major breakout."
-Publishers Weekly

"[Baker Towers] turns out rather cheerily, like Dickens... [Haigh has] established that she's a superior writer of the scene, the small moment that proves to be the pebble before the landslide. She also has a convincing ear for her period... Haigh is a skilled portraitist... The loss of this mining family's world is a poignant story, and as Haigh writes it, it's worth reading."
-Boston Magazine

"In clean, authoritative prose, Haigh uncannily injects new life into an era too often entombed by nostalgia."
-Entertainment Weekly

"In her second novel (after Mrs. Kimble), PEN/Hemingway Award winner Haigh uses evocative prose to create a picture of a company town--and of the human condition--that is both accurate and moving."
-Library Journal

"Last year, Jennifer Haigh impressed readers with her brilliant debut, Mrs. Kimble. With her second novel, Haigh does it again--differently, but just as well."
-BookPage

"The connection between identity and place, suffering and salvation, lies at the heart of this stunning second novel... the author evokes the frustration of a generation of women called to service and then casually discarded. Elements of Haigh's new novel strongly echo Mrs. Kimble, the Iowa graduate's emotionally charged debut... while both narratives explore the victimization of women, Baker Towers is a far more accomplished and hopeful book. Through perseverance, Haigh suggests, the Novaks and working-class America as a whole can find strength."
-Time Out New York

"Haigh has beaten the sophomore slump with another page-turner: Baker Towers... Many times throughout the book it seems that Haigh is using a camera rather than a pen, so perfectly does she create a scene for the reader... [she] has captured these people's lives as they play out, more acted upon than acting... This life that Haigh has so carefully described will soon disappear forever, for good or ill, but she has illuminated its current reality with a sure hand."
-Seattle Times

"[Haigh's] writing effectively mirrors the characters' quiet determination and silent forbearance... [she] evokes our sympathy for many of her characters."
-Elle, First runner-up, Elle's Lettres Readers' Prize 2005

"A moving ode to small-town life... beautifully restrained... By story's end you'll want to claim [the Novak family] as your own."
-Marie Claire: One of the 10 Best Things To Do

"Read because it is one of life's great pleasures."
-Featured in U.S. News & World Report 50 Ways to Fix Your Life: #15 Read More Books

"The granddaughter of coal miners, Haigh makes this fictional place come brilliantly alive through the travails of the Novak family. In spare but eloquent prose, she writes less about mine shafts than about the complex bonds of town and family... The power of the writing is such that the town itself feels like a living breathing character, with its cadences of dances and picnics and small-town prejudices."
-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Haigh's style is what sets this book apart. With just a few simple words she can paint portraits of the town and its people that are rich with depth. Her characters are more than real as she takes you into their lives and makes you cheer with their successes and ache with their defeats. With love and honesty for her subject, Haigh creates a world that both tests and rewards in its starkness leaving the reader with is a breathtaking look at life - beautiful and terrible at the same time."
-Blogcritics.org

"A plainspoken saga... [Haigh] has a gift for creating distinct characters... the story itself is compelling and handled very ably -- and is focused on a corner of America that has not been well-represented since John Updike's Rabbit novels... Baker Towers is a good, enjoyable novel."
-The Sunday Oregonian

"Readers familiar with the buttery richness of gnocchi or who jealously guard their family's secret recipe for kielbasa will find comfort with this new literary novel from Jennifer Haigh. For them, or for anyone who grew up in a small town, Baker Towers will be like coming home. And coming home is essentially what this novel is all about... she has clearly outshone Anne Tyler's 2004 novel An Amateur Marriage... Haigh has developed a set of characters who are rich and strong... An experienced short-story writer, Haigh knows what keeps readers turning pages: a setting that is as familiar as mom's kitchen, a story that is everyone's, and characters who reach out from the pages and demand that we listen."
-Winnipeg Free Press

From booksellers:

"Mrs. Kimble was probably the finest debut novel I've ever read. Baker Towers, her second novel, surpasses her first novel as it is even more far reaching in emotion, story and imagination. And it delivers with the same grace and intelligence. Haigh is one of our finest writers and storytellers. Read her."
- Tim Huggins, Newtonville Books

"A family of Italian immigrants are miners living in an Italian neighborhood at the beginning of World War II. little by little their lives change. Their struggles, triumphs and failures make an excellent read as well as a thought provoking one."
- Barbara, Bohannons' Books With a Past

"It was a good read...I felt such compassion for the coal miners and their families."
- Laura Nole, University Book Store, Tacoma

"I really loved this book... Haigh allows us to feel the fears of the miners who spent their lives and health underground and the struggles of their families. Jennifer Haigh is a new talent to be reckoned with."
- Katie Kuczaj, Dickens Book Shop

"Baker Towers is exceptionally well written. This is a story so well written you hate to put it down. I predict this novel will be a best seller!"
- Barbara Remmem, Bookstore at the Beach

"Really enjoyed it!...Jennifer is a gifted novelist. Best of all I like the depth of Jennifer's characters and their relationships. The novel also had a strong finish. Looks like another best seller!"
- Dawn Donavan, Armchair Bookstore

"All the virtuosity Jennifer Haigh displayed in Mrs. Kimble appears again in Baker Towers. A marvelous period piece, it demonstrates she can be ranked in the upper echelon of contemporary authors."
- Bill Cusumano, Nicola's Books

"Jennifer Haigh has again created a complete universe with this story. The reader will come to know each Novak, in turn and at different ages, and will watch as the family and the town both grow, wither, and regenerate. A writer and a story to savor."
- Megan, Scott's Bookstore