“Roberts masterfully weaves together past, present, and future in ways that feel almost magical... Fans of Donna Tartt, Tana French, and David Guterson will find much to appreciate here... In the Fullness of Time is a richly layered novel: a suspenseful mystery, a tender love story, a meditation on time, and a portrait of a man shaped by honor and the land that raised him. Roberts has created a story—and a sheriff—that lingers well beyond the final page.” —Southern Literary Review“[Terry Roberts’s] latest pastoral takes place in 1964 in rural North Carolina, an area caught between the pressure to modernize and the intractability of tradition... This comforting narrative would best suit readers who prefer to steep in a setting and let events float by... The languid pace focuses less on action and more on a strong sense of place, atmosphere, and fully fleshed main characters.” — Booklist”In the beautiful mountains of North Carolina, in the county that has given us the most distinguished fiddlers, Terry Roberts sets a story of murder, graft, political corruption, and families with long memories and secrets. In the Fullness of Time is a novel of betrayal, where crime is close to home, but also of courage, integrity, and long-delayed love, in prose from the place where the music was born.” —Robert Morgan, author of Gap Creek and Chasing the North Star“Terry Roberts’s Madison County offers a welcome refuge even in the midst of seemingly inescapable violence. As Clinton and Catherine struggle to start anew, they wrestle beneath the weight of family and the legacy of community. A gorgeous journey from start to finish, this heartrending and insightful novel is shot through with veins of light and wisdom.” —Heather Bell Adams, author of Maranatha Road and Starring Marilyn Monroe as Herself“In Terry Roberts’ excellent new novel, he describes the topography of western North Carolina with the attentiveness of a skilled landscape painter, but Roberts is equally attentive to the terrain of the human heart. His characters are not one-dimensional 'types.' Instead, they embody the complexities and contradictions of fully realized humans, most of all Clinton Salter, a good man torn between loyalty to the law and loyalty to family. In the Fullness of Time is yet another reminder of why Terry Roberts is one of our very finest novelists.” —Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author of Serena, The Cove, and The Caretaker“You are holding a tale of a Southern mountain sheriff. But beware: Roberts could have made this a stereotype fest, but instead tells a story that celebrates truth, steadfastness, and justice. With a dog or two thrown in for local color. This is a book you need during these fraught times.” —Wayne Caldwell, author of Cataloochee and The Shadow Family“Terry Roberts’s story had me from page one, drawing me into the town of Marshall, NC, and the lives of the characters there. Like his other novels, In the Fullness of Time isn’t so much a mystery as a series of enigmas about the longstanding insecurities that spark the most inscrutable human behaviors. Deft, engrossing, and compassionate, the story delves deeply into the ways a place can shape complicated motivations. Roberts’s mountain community is poised between the past and the future, between old recriminations and the desire for change. It’s about the long arc of families and history, a paean to the intricate relationships between people, time, and place. I loved it!” —Julia Franks, author of Over the Plain Houses and The Say So“Terry Roberts is one of those authors who, from the opening page, takes you by the hand and pulls you into the story in a most effortless and wonderful way. In his spell-binding new novel, In the Fullness of Time, Roberts brings 1960s Madison County, North Carolina, to life with such vivid detail, such a rich, sensory depiction you are there, sitting alongside Sheriff Clinton Salter as, with common sense and notable decency, he seeks to right a slew of wrongs so generationally accepted as to be woven into the very fabric of the community. Through it all is a tender love story of two good people, of family estranged and moving toward wholeness, of a community healed. Terry Roberts is an exceptional writer and, with In the Fullness of Time, a master storyteller at the height of his craft.” —Cathy Rigg, author of That Which Binds Us“In Terry Roberts’ sixth novel, In the Fullness of Time, the big picture is about the mysteries of Time—of what was, is, and will be. The core of this tasty apple—the story itself—delivers barn burnings, grave robberies, murder, 'banjos and buttermilk,' Republicans, Democrats, family stain, family love, and romance. And that’s just the core. Thundering through the mountains of fabled Madison County, North Carolina, this novel is a train that's destined to be a lasting tribute to a place that demonstrates how people and land are, in so many ways, the same. All aboard!” —Clyde Edgerton, author of Walking Across Egypt and The Bible Salesman"Terry Roberts takes us back to Madison County in the mid 1960s, a place vivid with permanence in its landscape and cemeteries and last names. Times are changing, too, and Clinton Salter, the reluctant new sheriff, faces the moral dilemmas of politics, both electoral and familial. Past and present overlap lyrically, sometimes painfully, in a novel that glitters with humor and a love for Western North Carolina and its people.” —Patricia Furnish, Malaprop's Bookstore"More than just a police procedural, In the Fullness of Time is a moving meditation on mature love that burrows into the soul. It is also an evocation of a lovely landscape forever marred by Hurricane Helene in 2024." —Historical Novels Review
