Augusta Cotton
Margaret Erhart

Told through the voice of Augusta Cotton as she recollects her childhood, this imaginative novel captures the magical and turbulent times of two eleven-year-old girls searching for meaning in the quiet confusion that surrounds them. It is the end of 1963. Augusta’s new friend, Helen Walsh, has mysterious and prolonged absences from school, and soon she is diagnosed with lupus. Augusta’s father, the respected town doctor, has many answers, but he cannot make Helen well. Helen’s mother, Jordan, is still shocked by the circumstances surrounding her husband’s untimely death, circumstances in which Helen is somehow involved. With intelligence and sensitivity, Erhart introduces us to resilient characters in a story that is full of the perplexities, mysteries, and visions of childhood. She brings us a story of the living and the dead, of wellness and illness, and of a world haunted by memory.

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Praise for Augusta Cotton
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“A lyrical, closely observed novel about coming of age in a time of grief and loss—which is to say, every time, everywhere. Erhart’s sly humor and absolutely original voice startle, illuminate, and engage every level of the senses and the heart.” - Fenton Johnson, author of Crossing the River
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“…bracingly fresh and haunting…Margaret Erhart has mined the most intimate territory of the heart. A dazzling tapestry of language.” - Diane Salvatore, author of Benediction

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