Skyland: A Novel

by Ann Joslin Williams

Genres: Fiction

344 pages, Paperback

Published May 5, 2026

About the author

Ann Joslin Williams is the author of the novels SKYLAND and DOWN FROM CASCOM MOUNTAIN, and a collection of linked short stories THE WOMAN in the WOODS. She is the recipient of awards from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Spokane Prize for Short Fiction, the New Hampshire Writers’ Project Literary Awards, and the Stegner Program at Stanford University. Her writing has appeared in many journals including The Sun, Carve, Ploughshares, The Missouri Review, The Iowa Review and elsewhere. She is an associate professor emerita of English at the University of New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Tim Null · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally my timing is rather wobbly, but in this case I timed my becoming a fan of Ann Joslin Williams perfectly. That is, I was able to read her collection of linked short stories and her two novels in fast succession. They've left me breathless, but grateful for the experience.

[Sarah Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful writing. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Sandy Tobin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A teenager and her little sister find themselves with a mother who is suddenly gone. Their beloved father is beside himself. Mired in grief that he can barely handle, he sends the girls to live with his cousin at her artists’ retreat in Maine. Then begins the unfolding of a tale of people who have known tragedy and their search for new hope.

The characters are lovingly fleshed out, each one with their own hopes, fears and surprising revelations. They are the type of characters that cause you to reach out and open the book again and again. You can’t get enough of them and they are infinitely relatable.

The setting in Maine is picturesque, peaceful and bucolic. Ann Joslin Williams writes of artists and the things they create. But it is her own prose that is a work of art. With words she paints whole scenes in vivid detail. A yellow block of light laying on the floor. The purple brushstrokes on a painter’s canvas. Tiny fish skimming across the bottom of a pond. The hills and trees and waterfalls of Maine. Joslin Williams takes you there and you don’t really want to come back.

“Skyland” is a tale of heartbreak, guilt, loss and redemption. One that will stay with you long after you turn the final page. A true gem.

[KJ Grow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is exquisite.

I really feel that Ann Joslin Williams is one of the most undiscovered gems in literary fiction. Her writing has such a pristine quality, unfussy and assured, done with a feather-light touch.

The best way I can describe reading Skyland (and Williams' other novel, Down from Cascom Mountain) is that it feels like being held. Williams writes with such tenderness and empathy toward her characters, and as a reader, I just feel this profound sense of trust and being taken care of. She captures the bittersweet truth of the human condition without being sentimental or saccharine. Her books are a balm for the soul and reinforce the patchwork of things that heal our wounds and make life worth living: art, literature, community, the outdoors, friendship, wonder.

Ann Packer gets it right when she says this book is "achingly lovely."

Recommended if you like Ann Patchett, Celeste Ng, Alice Munro, Lorrie Moore, Kent Haruf, etc.

Quiet, character and place-driven, but will stay with you a long time. I've read this book twice and loved it the second time even more than the first.

Disclosure: I was the acquiring editor and publisher of this book.

[Kendra Chubbuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading for fun. You really had to feel for Nora and Lucy in this heartbreaking story. I didn't know if Lucy was going to make it or not. This story kept my interest, and I wasn't able to put it down because I wanted to know what was going to happen.

Skyland was the place to be for these beautiful girls, and it helped them (or tried to) with their grief through nature, painting/drawing/modeling, various other art works and just wonderful friends they met at Skyland that really saved their lives I believe.

Boy, was Henry a mess. So very incredibly hard for him and he just couldn't be there for his girls. He needed to be there to help them heal and just didn't even know how to talk to them let alone figure himself out. Very sad.

I was glad Skyland was there for all. It was an interesting read but heartbreaking too.

You also had to feel for Blake who had really no family to care for him and took Celia's helping him entirely the wrong way. So very sad.

[Kayla Sekerak · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slower read focused on the aftermath of a death of a mother and wife and how the characters (two sisters and dad) cope with it. I thought it was well written and engaging. Also kept my attention due to not knowing what happened to the mom/wife.

[Alyssa C · Rating 3 out of 5]

i enjoyed this read but i felt like the book could have been taken in so many different directions but instead just kind of went no where? interesting plot about grief and life after loss