The Same Country

by Carole Burns

The Same Country is a powerful and thought-provoking story about family, friendship and the risks we take to unravel the truth. Twenty years ago, Joe was shot dead in the bedroom of his white girlfriend. It was deemed an accident, but now his friend Cassie – a journalist – is not so sure. As racial tension ignites a string of violence across their New England city, secrets are revealed, questions mount and suspicions grow. Will the answers that she is so desperate to find cause everyone's world to shatter?

276 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 29, 2023

About the author

Carole Burns, a freelance reviewer for the Washington Post, was the winner of Ploughshares’ John C. Zacharis First Book Award in 2015 for her story collection, The Missing Woman.

Her debut novel, The Same Country, shortlisted in The Masters Review Novel Excerpt Prize, was published by the London-based Legend Press in autumn 2023.

An American ex-pat now living in Wales, Carole worked as a journalist, including for washingtonpost.com and The New York Times, for some 15 years before moving to the UK, where she is now an Associate Professor in English teaching Creative Writing at the University of Southampton.

Her short fiction has been longlisted in the BBC’s National Short Story Award and published in Mslexia.

Her first book, Off the Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings, and Everything in Between, was based on her washingtonpost.com interviews with 43 writers including Jhumpa Lahiri, Andrea Levy, Colm Tóibín, Anthony Doerr, Walter Mosley, Richard Ford, and A.S. Byatt.

Reviews

[Claire Fuller]

Thanks to the publisher, Legend Times Group for the proof.
History appears to be repeating itself in this astute, powerful and pacy novel about race, secrets, and whether it's ever good to return to old haunts. Cassie returns to her home town in New England after twenty years and a failed relationship. When racial tension erupts she's taken back to when and why she left, after her black friend Joe, was shot dead in the bedroom of his white girlfriend.

[Lucile Russing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely phenomenal from start to finish! Brilliantly written, and a powerful commentary on racism and classism in America. Cassie’s journey keeps you hooked on every word, and the ending leaves you breathless! I can’t recommend this book highly enough, it is a stunning debut novel ❤️ can’t wait for more from Carole Burns!!

[lyssa roche · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for my module!! It was written by my professor however I am unbiased as it was still an incredible book. So that’s less awkward for me! The way it was written was so easy to follow yet the topics were so important and so well written. Was probably one of my bigger inspirations for a creative writing piece and I definitely want to read more as she writes. (She’s also a lovely lady so even better!)

[Siobhan Reads Sometimes · Rating 5 out of 5]

“How would Joe have turned out? I sometimes wondered. When I visited Florence a few years ago. I visited the Galleria dell’Accademia to see Michaelangelo’s David, but it was a series of half-finished sculptures nearby that captured my attention - half-formed men caught in transition, as if unable to become who they wanted to be. Made of unbending stone, their hands were not coming free, their thighs not running off into their future. An unfinished painting can seem mystical, can hold promise - it’s teasing in an appealing way, the colours, the hints of shapes, a face barely sketched. It’s like it’s there, but you just can’t see it. But these figures seemed stopped mid-stride as if struck by lightning, then frozen.

This is the state of us all - how many of us emerge from our blocks of stone to become our best selves without being trapped in some way, caught by the foot, the arm, and held back? But ours are psychological blocks. Joe was cut down. I wished I could see him fully formed, moving in the world, now more than ever.”

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been in a bit of a reading slump recently and it took me ages to get into this book, at least half way through.
This book is about relationships and about how different races and classes are treated differently in America.
It flits from the main character as a teenager to now as a journalist. As a teenager Cassies best friends boyfriend Joe, who is black, is shot dead in her friends bedroom. Her friends brothers’ friend is sent down for the crime, however, it’s been well known that her brother disliked him, and it turns out in the end you find out he shot him. His parents placed the blame on their sons friend and he got away with it.
Present day a black boy is shot by the police and Cassie is doing a story about this and also researching the tragedy in her youth.
I found it ok by the end, but the first half there were too many characters involved and I found it a bit confusing. This could be just because of my reading slump, but either way it didn’t really grab me.

[Aisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful, searingly observant and thought provoking - The Same Country is the story of a small town, a story of race and class, of secrets, love and tragedy.

A huge thanks to Legend Press for gifting me this fantastic novel - I was immediately immersed in its beautiful prose and astute storytelling. A raw and unflinching look of the ever timely topic of racial tensions, corruption, gun violence and the complication emotions that surround the American experience and the stark contrast between what that means for different people.

In just under 270 pages this book manages to be so many things - a pacy and addictive novel as nuanced as any bestseller, a hard hitting and unforgettable character exploration that will stay with the reader way after they close its pages - I would thoroughly recommend adding this one to your TBR and I’m excited to read more books by this author.

[Judith H · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Same Country is a compelling novel about race and class in New England and how their impact and echoes return to haunt Cassie, a journalist, twenty years after her friend Joe was shot dead in the bedroom of his girlfriend. Secrets hide in the folds of this story, but it isn't the secrets themselves so much as Burns's skilled dissection of each character's flaws and incomplete perspectives that makes this such a thought-provoking read. An ordinary New England setting is brought to life through the dual timeline that gives it depth of field, and it is refreshing to read newsroom scenes that add nuance rather than sensationalise the stakes. The prose is clean and elegant, and the pace is perfectly judged. I read it once, quickly, then a second time, to savour.

[Fran Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so enjoyed this and it kept calling to me whenever I put it down! The central question - 'What actually happened that night?' - acts as a page-turner and I loved the dual narrative as this kept up the pace and intrigue. The main character is constantly dealing with divided loyalties, a theme which came through very strongly and drew me to her. She's a journalist by trade (as is the author) and the daily workings of a busy newspaper office and its decisions really interested me. I think the novel made me think about racial tensions and their complexities more than I have previously so it was a valuable read for me, for sure.

[Ellie T · Rating 4 out of 5]

20 years after leaving her hometown in New England, Cassie returns to work on the local paper. Her memories of the time before she left are marred by the sudden and violent death of her friend Joe, a bright young black student and boyfriend of Cassie's best friend.
By coincidence, Cassie's childhood friends Aggie, Joe's girlfriend and Jess, Joe's sister, are also there.
The shooting of a young black man in modern times makes Cassie reflect on what happened to Joe and what the truth of that night was.
The book is a reflection on the different experiences of black and white youth, both in the past and more recently, and of Cassie's quest to find the truth.

[Tôpher Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written, languorously observant novel that has the intensity of a thriller. Her central characters complex and conflicted interactions are finely wrought and match the double binds in, and caused by, the dual narrative. Carole Burns is exemplary at creating a totally believable reality that seems to become part of the readers actual world. A stunning book that goes beyond just good writing to also examine the problems of race and privilege in America. It also has some poignant questions about the future of everyone in modern western societies.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a good story in here somewhere, but the book lacked the dramatic impact that I was hoping for. I thought more could have been made of the racial tensions within the story. Also, writing across two time periods needs to be done deftly and I didn't think it was quite pulled off, neither did I feel much empathy with any of the characters, so a little disappointing overall.

[Chet Boronski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay writing of a story which could be in 1920 or 2020, unfortunately. Persistent lack of justice

[Stefán Ingvar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, svolítið langdregin og heavy handed en fínir sprettir