Praise for Lifelike Creatures

“To see a writer tackle environmental issues so close to home is a refreshing turn for fiction…”

— inRegister Magazine

"Baum’s impressive debut is plainly told in vivid descriptions and unapologetic language. She handles the struggle between love and blame in parent-child relationships honestly and beautifully...”

— Booklist

“Rebecca Baum’s writing is honest and concise. She can conjure our humanity in a sentence, deftly revealing a humble decency or an utter depravity. Lifelike Creatures unapologetically displays our ability to abuse and our capacity to love. The perspectives of a daughter who is so easy to love and a mother who is so hard to forgive, are raw and wrenching. I could feel the fear and shame and rage of vibrant and resilient Tara Saint-Romain. I think every daughter will recognize the precipice of that age, and the tug of war of wanting both the protection of our mother and the freedom from her. I look forward to clearing more space for Rebecca Baum on my bookshelf.”

— Téa Leoni

“Through Baum’s clear and concise style, she effectively communicates how helpless Tara and Joan’s situation is, and, by extension, the helplessness of the impoverished…”

— Deep South Magazine

“From the opening line of this gritty, coming-of-age novel, I was transported to the Southern Gothic world of Terrefine, Louisiana. There, I began to root for rough-and-tumble Tara, a parentified girl on the verge of getting sucked into the sinkhole of her mother’s addictions. Raw, sensual, and unapologetic, Lifelike Creatures exquisitely examines corporate greed, regional disaster, addiction, and one girl’s journey to find solid ground in an unreliable, unforgiving reality. An impressive debut.”

— Heather Siegel, author of Out from the Underworld

“One of the many appealing things about Rebecca Baum’s telling of this story is that it is both familiar, in a ripped-from-the-headlines sort of way—i.e. corporate malfeasance, white and black hats, environmental destruction, illicit drugs, class warfare, situational ethics—and surprisingly personal…This isn’t a story about an individual who comes to symbolize something larger; it's a story about individuals caught in extraordinary circumstances and how they respond. Their responses demonstrate how complex, nuanced and personal human drama is. Lifelike Creatures is a plainspoken story that deftly avoids polemics and convenient heroes and villains.”

— David Roth, author of The Femme Fatale Hypothesis 

“Lifelike Creatures is a timely tale of ecological crisis and the struggle to preserve what may be already lost. A necessary read for the new decade.”

— Mandy-Suzanne Wong, author of Drafts of a Suicide Note

“With beautiful and incisive prose, enjoyable characters, and dynamic narration, Rebecca Baum carries the reader deep into the quest of an unusual teenager who struggles to shore up her difficult mother as a sudden industrial disaster throws her rural Louisiana town, and her world, into chaos.”

— Susana Aikin, author of We Shall See the Sky Sparkling

“You can practically feel the murky heat and smell the swamp-water air off the Louisiana bayous in Rebecca Baum’s gripping tale of toxic Americana. Be prepared for whiplash plot twists and feral rage. Be prepared, as well, to shed tears for the winsome and resourceful young Tara Saint-Romain as she struggles to make sense of the noxious world around her; she’s like a 21st century-female Oliver Twist, and just as unforgettable.”

— Jan Alexander, author of Ms. Ming’s Guide to Civilization