?A tense story about a small town swept up in bigotry and paranoia after the brutal murder of a local boy sends the residents into a frenzied witch hunt . . . Smith??s crisp prose and dedication to realistic moral ambiguity make for a provoking read.??
--Publishers Weekly

?Smith??s first novel successfully builds tension and a sense of dread among the picture-perfect New England fall.??
--Library Journal XPress Reviews

"h shows us the power of fiction to fully describe the internal and external forces that set the scene for unfounded accusations...Smith deftly builds tension...Smith shows us both the damage that will be ongoing and the revelations and growth that can arise out of ugly times. This is something to remember for the times ahead."
--Lambda Literary

?Smith conveys the impact of this prejudicial hostility on two young women who are struggling to make their way in an intolerant world with a tender and delicate understanding in this nuanced tale of identity and misperception?? connection and alienation.??
--Booklist Online

Included in BookRiot's list of 9 Small Press Books to Read in January 2017!

"is well crafted novel stands out for a number of reasons ? the nuanced descriptions of the characters?? complex feelings?? the realistic portrayal of how quickly a person??s life and a community can fall into crisis?? and the focus on two lesbians and the challenges they face."--World Wide Work

?The Year of Needy Girls is a study in hypocrisy and small-town secrets. Patricia A. Smith??s contemporary witch hunt north of Boston is a collision of The Children??s Hour and Mystic River.??
?Stewart O??Nan?? author of Songs for the Missing

"e Year of Needy Girls is as much about how fear can cloud our perceptions of both self and other as it is about the persistent search for love and home. Patricia A. Smith's vision is at once keen and generous."
--Elizabeth Graver?? author of The End of the Point

?This is one of those compulsively readable novels that keeps you up far too late at night. A thrum of dread begins on the opening pages?? and yet the two heroines are so compassionately drawn?? so understandably flawed?? that you keep hoping?? against all reason?? that nothing will happen to them. Patricia A. Smith??s portrait of a paranoid community is gripping: a Salem of the twenty-first century.??
--Suzanne Berne?? author of the The Dogs of Littlefield

"nded novel that explores small town bigotry."
--She Treads Softly

"A tale of persecution where it shouldn't have happened...There are many people you can't trust. And it's hard to tell."
--Journey of a Bookseller

A young boy's murder unleashes chaos in the life of a schoolteacher and a small New England town.

Bradley?? Massachusetts is in many ways a typical small New England town?? but a river divides it in half?on one side?? the East End: crowded triple-d