Small Crowd of Strangers

Joanna Rose is the author of the award-winning novel Little Miss Strange, which earned the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award. Other work has appeared in ZYZZYVA, Windfall Journal, Cloudbank, Artisan Journal, Northern Lights, Oregon Humanities, High Desert Journal, VoiceCatcher, and Bellingham Review. Her essay "That Thing With Feathers" was cited as Notable in 2015 Best American Essays. She established the Powell’s Books reading series and curated it for fifteen years. She is an Atheneum Fellow in Poetry, and cohosts the prose critique group Pinewood Table. She also works with youth through Literary Arts’ Writers in the Schools and with Young Musicians & Artists. She lives in Portland Oregon’s urban southeast side with her husband and, at any given time, several dogs.

"A tale of the impossibility of becoming someone that some else wishes you were (that you thought you could be), with an ending that is nothing but joyful."—Whitney Otto, author of How to Make an American Quilt"In A Small Crowd of Strangers, the profoundly talented Joanna Rose creates a generous, compassionate, and vivid world. We drift along with Pattianne Anthony, newly married but barely tethered to her own choices. When the truth about her marriage gains an unexpected and inexorable momentum, it both explodes and saves Pattianne’s life. Piling detail upon shining detail, Rose builds her story of political strife, spiritual awakening and feminist reclamation to a climax that made me laugh and cry and long for more. An important meditation on how our supposed missteps often create as much life as they destroy, Pattianne’s final destination rewards the reader as much as it does the character. —Michelle Ruiz Keil, author of All of Us With Wings“As a fan of Joanna Rose’s groundbreaking novel, Little Miss Strange, I was eager to read the next, A Small Crowd of Strangers. Lucky readers—this novel, too, is buoyant, tender, and it’s so easy to invest in her lively characters and the gorgeously described landscape. At the center of the novel is Pattianne Anthony, a quirky reference librarian who is smart and witty, but who also tends to make major life choices on a whim. One of those is to marry a charming schoolteacher, Michael Bryn, and move from her childhood home in New Jersey to St. Cloud, Minnesota. It’s Pattianne’s discovery of self that most captivates through these pages—her budding realization that she has let life lead her instead of her leading life. As Pattianne ventures out, we witness her profound discoveries about love, family, faith, and the abiding strength of an eclectic community, and in this way Rose’s novel becomes sweetly intimate, a joy to read.”—Debra Gwartney, author of I Am a Stranger Here Myself“Joanna Rose’s A Small Crowd of Strangers is the story of Pattianne Anthony, a young woman who leaves home on a spiritual quest and—by shedding what husband, family, and orthodox Catholicism expect of her—learns to share ‘time and space and silent language with strangers,’ learns to live alone on the edge of ‘a crazy gathering of lost souls.’ Pattianne finds solace in solitude, ultimately realizing that she is ‘seeking wonder.’ She spends quiet, introspective stretches in the Pacific Northwest’s natural world, gaining a Buddhist sensibility suited to her soul. Joanna Rose’s beautifully lyric novel is a gift: the work of a true story-teller. Her quiet, careful wonderment nourishes our souls.”—Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita“If you’ve ever longed for the truth, but were afraid to face the reality of it, or made bad decisions for the right reasons, you’ll love this fascinating cast of characters and the honesty, complexity and beauty of this captivating story.”—Anna Quinn, author of The Night Child"Beneath the tranquil developments of Joanna Rose’s coming-of-adulthood novel A Small Crowd of Strangers lie dire possibilities, but also the hope of meeting one’s authentic self."—Michelle Anne Schingler, Foreword ReviewsPRAISE FOR JOANNA ROSE'S DEBUT NOVEL, LITTLE MISS STRANGE (Algonquin)“An extraordinarily powerful first novel . . . Sarajean is impossible to forget.” —Kirkus Reviews “Packed with colorful details reminiscent of the dream the era of ‘free love’ left behind.” —Redbook “A wondrous, uncanny book, like few others you will read . . . So assured and accomplished that it seems the work of a seasoned novelist at the peak of her talent.” —The Oregonian “The closest thing to a perfect book that I have read in years.” —The Bellingham Herald