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The Tulip Poplars
Not yet published
Expected 13 Oct 26THE TULIP POPLARS is an epic and lush story of forbidden love set in the early 1900s and across decades, for fans of Tom Crewe and Heated Rivalry. Amos and Tom fall in love while working in the tobacco fields during the hot summers of the early 1900s, but it will be decades before they can truly be together. Tom cannot shake the strict religious code he was raised by nor the responsibilities of his family’s farm, and he ultimately marries his longtime friend Maeve; while Amos goes to New York City to find the anonymity required to live his life openly. And though Maeve pines for Paschal rather than Tom, the strict Jim Crow laws prevent her and Paschal from being together. The Tulip Poplars is a sweeping novel--intimate in its storytelling and epic in its scope--spanning most of the 20th century, centering on four people trying to find happiness in a world that demands conventional choices. It is an examination of faith and doubt, race and class, and desire—not just sexual desire, but also the longing to be good when the whole world is telling you are evil for loving who you love. Deeply moving and based on both his ancestors and his own life, as well as the history of the small Kentucky towns he knows so well, House’s new novel will leave you with a bigger heart.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 13, 2026
About the author
Silas House
38 books1,656 followersSilas House is the nationally bestselling author of six novels--Clay's Quilt, 2001; A Parchment of Leaves, 2003; The Coal Tattoo, 2005; Eli the Good, 2009; Same Sun Here (co-authored with Neela Vaswani) 2012; Southernmost (2018), as well as a book of creative nonfiction, Something's Rising, co-authored with Jason Howard, 2009; and three plays.
His work frequently appears in The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Salon. He is former commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered". His writing has appeared in recently in Time, Ecotone, Oxford American, Garden and Gun, and many other publications.
House serves on the fiction faculty at the Spalding School of Writing and as the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair at Berea College.
As a music writer House has worked with artists such as Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, Lee Ann Womack, Kris Kristofferson, Lucinda Williams, The Judds, Jim James, and many others.
House is the recipient of three honorary doctorates and is the winner of the Nautilus Award, an EB White Award, the Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library/NAV Foundation, the Appalachian Book of the Year, and many other honors.
His work frequently appears in The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Salon. He is former commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered". His writing has appeared in recently in Time, Ecotone, Oxford American, Garden and Gun, and many other publications.
House serves on the fiction faculty at the Spalding School of Writing and as the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair at Berea College.
As a music writer House has worked with artists such as Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, Lee Ann Womack, Kris Kristofferson, Lucinda Williams, The Judds, Jim James, and many others.
House is the recipient of three honorary doctorates and is the winner of the Nautilus Award, an EB White Award, the Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library/NAV Foundation, the Appalachian Book of the Year, and many other honors.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I haven’t been pulled through a novel this quickly in years. Having read every book Silas House has written—from CLAY'S QUILT to LARK ASCENDING - I can confidently say THE TULIP POPLARS feels like his most ambitious and, in many ways, his most fully realized work.
House’s prose remains as lyrical and compassionate as ever. He writes small-town Southern life with a rare attentiveness, capturing both its beauty and its weight, especially in how it shapes questions of faith, identity, and belonging. What continues to set his work apart is his refusal to rely on easy stereotypes; instead, he offers deeply humane portraits of people navigating complicated lives, often under pressure from their communities, histories, and beliefs.
This novel spans much of the twentieth century and follows four interconnected characters whose lives are bound to a particular rural place that both anchors and calls them back. At its heart is a sweeping story that begins in the early 1900s tobacco fields, where Tom and Amos fall in love in a world that offers them little safety or permission. Their story is rendered with care and restraint, unfolding alongside broader explorations of race, class, queer identity, and the enduring tensions between staying and leaving home.
Without giving too much away, the novel thoughtfully traces how faith can both wound and sustain, and how desire, memory, and place shape the ways people endure and resist. It’s immersive in the truest sense - rooted in landscape and voice, but always attentive to the inner lives of its characters.
THE TULIP POPLARS is, quite simply, Silas House at his most expansive.
House’s prose remains as lyrical and compassionate as ever. He writes small-town Southern life with a rare attentiveness, capturing both its beauty and its weight, especially in how it shapes questions of faith, identity, and belonging. What continues to set his work apart is his refusal to rely on easy stereotypes; instead, he offers deeply humane portraits of people navigating complicated lives, often under pressure from their communities, histories, and beliefs.
This novel spans much of the twentieth century and follows four interconnected characters whose lives are bound to a particular rural place that both anchors and calls them back. At its heart is a sweeping story that begins in the early 1900s tobacco fields, where Tom and Amos fall in love in a world that offers them little safety or permission. Their story is rendered with care and restraint, unfolding alongside broader explorations of race, class, queer identity, and the enduring tensions between staying and leaving home.
Without giving too much away, the novel thoughtfully traces how faith can both wound and sustain, and how desire, memory, and place shape the ways people endure and resist. It’s immersive in the truest sense - rooted in landscape and voice, but always attentive to the inner lives of its characters.
THE TULIP POPLARS is, quite simply, Silas House at his most expansive.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This story swept me away and left me hanging onto every word on every page. The story of Amos and Tom was amazing and so realistic. I loved seeing how over the years they tried to go the “normal” route but still couldn’t help their true feelings inside. The time period and overall setting was really amazing and really captivated me. I couldn’t stop thinking of this book and the characters after I finished it. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews