Horvath: But Now Am Found

Black Lawrence Press, paperback

Publication Date: February 17, 2023

Publisher Marketing: What happens when one's illusions unravel? This is the question that animates Patricia Horvath's debut story collection, But Now Am Found. A young man experiences heartbreak for the first time when his girlfriend rejects him on religious grounds. One woman fixates on a crossword puzzle to avoid thinking about her missing daughter while another, in a deeply troubled marriage, gives birth. The characters in these stories struggle to make sense of upheaval in their lives. But Now Am Found is a compelling exploration of the human spirit confronted by abrupt and rending change.

"Generosity, love, searing beauty shine through Patricia Horvath's stories, which unfold with the urgency and mystery of being alive."--Martha McPhee, Author of An Elegant Woman

"In spare, precisely detailed prose, Patricia Horvath delivers a moving collection of stories that roam the low tides of life-- the chemo ward, the stepchild's realization that she's unwanted baggage, the loss of a beloved parent--with a keen eye for small tendernesses that, if they don't redeem, truly soften life's blows."--Heather Harpham, Author of Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After

"In exquisite lyric prose, the sharpest of detail, and heartbreaking humor, But Now Am Found gives voice to the abandoned, the silenced, and the shunned women and girls of Patricia Horvath's stark, and all too familiar, world; these powerful and truly unforgettable characters remind us, in each brilliant sentence, of their--and our--resilience."--Susan Steinberg, Author of Machine

"Rarely have I enjoyed a story collection as much as Patricia's Horvath's But Now Am Found, a book that deepens and refines itself with every title as a sculpture's knife does stone. From the titular story to the final line, Horvath constantly reverts expectations, altering not only what it means to be lost or found, but constantly surprising with last-minute tragedies, rescues, reversals. These are the types of stories that send you back to the beginning again, eager to reread, explore. And even as the stories step into the male point of view, the gaze here remains purely, refreshening female. Seldom does a collection mine the complexities of the human heart with such wit and pathos, such confidence of vision, as this."--Michelle Hoover, author of The Quickening and Bottomland