About ‘Almost Gone’

Almost Gone – A Novel in Stories

In the hardscrabble world of Brian Sousa’s debut novel-in-stories Almost Gone, the youth struggle with the secrets left behind by their elders, just as their parents fought through the pain and joy of assimilation. Told through various perspectives, the book is a working-class tale of survival that finds no easy answers, but cuts straight to the bone.

“These are stories of loss, infidelity, alienation…all the persistent demons of modern suburban life. And for that matter, of suburban literature since the dawn of Cheever.  But Almost Gone glimmers when Sousa manages to step outside conventional grief, and twist the knife ever so slightly…”

-Claire Blechman, HTML Giant

“The setting in most of these stories is around water and we are made ever conscious of the great beauty, brutality, death, and aliveness of the ocean. We, Almost Gone shows us through fine prose and unnerving storytelling, are like water.”

– Ethel Rohan, author of Goodnight Nobody

“Almost Gone is an evocative, sensual journey that carries us from Portugal to America, by way of the human heart.”

– Lise Haines, author of Girl in the Arena, Small Acts of Sex and Electricity, and In My Sister’s Country

“The deceptively straightforward stories of Almost Gone sneak up to unfold in every direction, across distance and generations, as in raw-edged, pared-down lyricism Brian Sousa reveals a humming web of tragedy and wonder staked across the sprawling networks of modern life.”
– Steve Himmer, author of The Bee-Loud Glade

“Brian Sousa’s novel Almost Gone does for Portuguese immigrants from Southern New England what Stuart Dybek did for the Polish of Chicago. In every story, the heart is buried deep, and, in one way or another, each character is restlessly searching for home.”
– Jeff Parker, author of Ovenman and Director of DISQUIET International Literary Program in Lisbon