“Record Lows is a new Great American Novel. It’s the story of one small-town New York family during the worst blizzard in a generation—and without giving anything else away, I can promise you’ll be blown away by its propulsive plot and exquisite writing. This book is a marvel.”
— Elin Hilderbrand,
#1 New York Times best-selling author of
The Five-Star Weekend
Western New York, 1977: As the storm of the century closes in, so does the past…
Harmon Pond, editor-in-chief of the local newspaper, is struggling to keep afloat amid mounting debt and vanishing ad revenue. So when the creditor who’s been secretly funding him vanishes without a trace, Harmon wonders if it’s his lucky break. Meanwhile, his eldest daughter, Teresa—the paper’s ambitious intern—sees a story that could make her name.
But for Harmon’s devout Italian American wife, Pauline, the disappearance stirs up memories of a childhood she has tried hard to put behind her, and secrets she would prefer to keep buried.
With the parents tangled in their own concerns and Teresa relentlessly searching for answers, no one notices that middle-child Fran has developed a habit of sneaking out at night, and Lonnie, the youngest, is taking dangerous risks of his own.
As the manhunt intensifies, and the snowstorm builds into one of the worst in history, the Pond family must find a way to accept the truth, and each other, before they lose themselves forever.
“Full of surprises, unexpected humor, and emotional heft, CJ Green’s debut shoots the lights out and refuses to sweep up the glass”
— Patrick Ryan,
New York Times best-selling author of
Buckeye
“First a family novel, then a crime story, then an increasingly antic thriller, all while also being a thoughtful literary work about morality and faith… It’s a work both gripping (and funny) and beautifully written; an incredible accomplishment, the debut of an exciting new writer.”
— Rumaan Alam,
New York Times best-selling author of
Leave the World Behind
and Entitlement
“CJ Green is a writer of such wisdom, wit, and compassion, and Record Lows is a pure delight—at once intimate and epic, affecting and very funny, and compulsively readable”
— Claire Lombardo,
New York Times best-selling author of
The Most Fun We Ever Had
and Same As It Ever Was
“Psychologically real and entertainingly bonkers… It’s a story about the secrets we keep even from those closest to us—especially those closest to us—and what happens when those secrets are explosively revealed”
— Nathan Hill,
New York Times best-selling author of
The Nix and Wellness
“A literary page-turner…equal parts heartwarming, pulse-pounding, and emotionally resonant.”
— Kate Christensen,
PEN/Faulkner award-winning author of
The Great Man and Welcome Home, Stranger
“Record Lows reminds me in the best way of Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting. Green has the same exuberant grasp of character, the same awareness that everyone has a past and that luck is a goddess not easily appeased. A dazzling and delightful debut.”
— Margot Livesey,
New York Times best-selling author of
The Road from Belhaven and The Boy in the Field
“A tremendously enjoyable snapshot of a moment and a place and a family coming undone, with dread looming ahead and shocking history lurking behind, quickening your heartbeat and pulling at your heartstrings at the same time.”
— Chris Pavone,
New York Times best-selling author of
The Doorman and The Expats