{"product_id":"the-four-wives-and-five-deaths-of-richard-milford-nafissa-thompson-spires-hardcover","title":"The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford -- Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Hardcover","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of the multi-award-winning, National Book Award-longlisted, \"vivid, fast, funny, way-smart, and verbally inventive\" (George Saunders) story collection \u003ci\u003eHeads of the Colored People, \u003c\/i\u003ecomes a sly, spry, literary debut novel about the murder of an infamous moonshiner and the cacophony of true stories a small town can tell about itself.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eRich Milford is dead. At last.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e We find ourselves in 1920s Oklahoma, just far enough out of Tulsa, just long enough after the Race Massacre of 1921. For as long as anyone can remember, the Milfords have led plentiful lives on the backs of the townspeople of Newville. Now, on the ominous brink of the Great Depression and at the height of Prohibition, Richard Milford was an infamous moonshiner and womanizer who, it seems, finally crossed the wrong person at the wrong time. He's dead and buried with only his women to mourn him, but a question remains: Who killed him, and why? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Top suspects are his four \"wives,\" Lally, Sophronia, Georgette, and Vivianne. But as their stories burst to light, the very idea of a true story comes apart before our eyes. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In an electric follow-up to her acclaimed debut collection, Nafissa Thompson-Spires once again serves up a brilliant distillation of front-of-mind happenings--think, cults of personality, capitalism run amok in politics, and rampant societal distrust--structured like a stupefying line dance. In her uniquely powerful, humorous manner, Thompson-Spires takes on the interdependent clash of the traditional and the newfangled in this gobsmackingly excellent novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Nafissa Thompson-Spires\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Scribner Book Company\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/06\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 176\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781501168048\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/24\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2026 pg. 112\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNafissa Thompson-Spires is the author of the award-winning, National Book Award longlisted short story collection\u003ci\u003e, Heads of the Colored People\u003c\/i\u003e. She earned a doctorate in English from ----Vanderbilt University and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from ------the University of Illinois. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe Paris Review Daily\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew York m\u003c\/i\u003eagazine's \"The Cut,\" \u003ci\u003eThe Root\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe White Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Ploughshares, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003e400 Souls: A Community History of African America 1619-2019\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe 1619 Project\u003c\/i\u003e, among other publications. In addition to a debut novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Four Wives and Five Deaths of Rich Milford\u003c\/i\u003e, her young adult debut is forthcoming. She is the recipient of a 2024 United States Artists Grant and a 2019 Whiting Award.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Nafissa Thompson-Spires","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67490194686180,"sku":"9781501168048","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0611\/9587\/8628\/files\/9781501168048.jpg?v=1791359345","url":"https:\/\/bookandmortar.com\/products\/the-four-wives-and-five-deaths-of-richard-milford-nafissa-thompson-spires-hardcover","provider":"BookandMortar","version":"1.0","type":"link"}