Beware the Tall Grass weaves the stories of the Sloans, a modern family grappling with their young son Charlie’s troubling memories of a past life as a soldier in Vietnam, and Thomas Boone, a young man caught up in the drama of mid-sixties America who is sent to Vietnam. Eve Sloan is challenged as a mother to make sense of Charlie’s increasing references to war, and her attempts to get to the bottom of Charlie’s past life memories threaten her marriage, while Thomas struggles with loss and first love, before being thrust into combat and learning what matters most. Beware the Tall Grass explores the power of love and mercy with grace and artful sensitivity in a world where circumstances often occur far beyond our control. Unnerving, distinctive, and told in fine, intimate prose, Morris's time-crossed novel debut contrasts the present—through the story of Eve Sloan, a mother raising her son in Northern Virginia—and the past, with Thomas Boone, a young man headed for Vietnam in the 1960s. While developing both threads with warm humanity, Beware the Tall Grass builds to an unexpected connection between these characters and eras. -- Publishers Weekly Interweaving two very different stories with first-person intimacy, Birkett Morris shows us the steady hand of a skilled practitioner, delivering what all great fiction must: both the unique and the universal. . . These two narratives are, of course, connected, and as that connection slowly reveals itself, we are buffeted and propelled by rising tension and jarring events, and are ultimately enveloped in waves of tragedy and renewal. This compact, yet wide-ranging novel delivers both the expected and the unexpected, both the hardship of betrayal and the solidity of tireless devotion. It's no surprise to this reviewer that Beware the Tall Grass, Birkett Morris' latest expansive exploration of all that makes us human, was the winner of the Donald L. Jordan Literary Prize. It's a well-deserved distinction, and clues us to what we can expect from this rising literary talent. -- Bruce Overby, Heavy Feather Review "The novel explores the inexplicable connection of our souls across time and space.. . . By nature a poet and short story writer, Morris' language is fluid and precise. Each section echoes the one before, creating a thematic connection." -Gail M. Murry, Historical Novel Society Beware the Tall Grass reads like poetic, creative nonfiction, creating a beautiful and believable story that leaves the reader satisfied yet in wonder about what we know and don't know about the mysteries of life and death. This novel is a compelling read. -- James B. Wells, Compulsive Reader It's easy to see why Ellen Birkett Morris's enchanting debut novel, Beware the Tall Grass (Columbus State University 2024), won The Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence. The novel expertly entwines two moving tales, that of Eve Sloan, a mother trying desperately to understand and protect her son Charlie circa 2010; and that of Thomas, an eighteen-year-old infantryman fighting for his life at Ia Drang in Vietnam in 1965. Those readers who lean toward the mystical and spiritual will immediately accept what is happening in the story, while others will have to suspend disbelief. In either case, the novel is absolutely captivating as it explores the human condition. . . Beware the Tall Grass powerfully portrays the angst and pain that often accompanies love in all its forms. It is a beautiful novel by a talented author. -Donna Meredith, Southern Literary Review This debut novel is mysterious and lucid, rich and poignant, as Ellen Birkett Morris creates two sets of memorable characters and follows them in gripping stories about love and loss, family and parenthood, with real war as their backdrop, and pain and redemption as their resonant outcomes. In this beautiful novel, two stories separated by half a century intertwine to create an indelible narrative of peace and war. In the throes of his first loss, young Thomas joins the Army and travels to Vietnam, where he is propelled toward his fate. Decades later, in another time and place, Eve and Daniel welcome their infant son and resolve to set aside their own family ghosts. But is it possible to release the past? Can powerful experiences of love and death ever be forgotten? Through surprising and suspenseful turns, Beware the Tall Grass explores the evocative mysteries of time and memory. A young man’s coming-of-age in 1960s Missoula and the fields of Vietnam; a young family’s struggle many years later to understand the deep-hidden trauma of their young son; Ellen Birkett Morris’s compelling debut novel, Beware the Tall Grass, explores the invisible, inexplicable connections of our souls across time and space. Masterful and deeply moving, Morris engages our hearts and challenges us to accept, and embrace, the transcendent nature of our being. Beware the Tall Grass explores the collision of past and present, courage and f