"What an exciting new voice, and what a splendid first novel. Just wonderful!" -- Pat Conroy, author of" Beach Music and" The Prince of Tides"A gem of a book....Wells offers a virtuoso performance."-- "Denver Post"Wells presents an astonishing family of voices, potent in its pain, dazzlingly brilliant in its stretches and perceptions. This hilariously sad immersion into the Walker family of Thornton, Louisiana, will leave few readers unchanged."-- Western States Book Award Citation Jurors "Some writers have all the luck. Not only did Rebecca Wells get to be Catholic, she also got to come from Louisiana. This means that half of her is conversant with the Mystery, and the other half is crazy. Out of this chemistry she has written a brilliant, pungent, and hilarious novel about the Walker clan of Thornton, Louisiana...I'd like you to meet Miss Siddalee Walker, a force of nature and a tool of fate, and one of the sharpest-eyed little chatterboxes since Huckleberry Finn. "Little Altars Everywhere" teems with wonderful characters...But it's Wells' tireless and ruthless evocation of childhood combined with an unfailingly shrewd comic ear that makes "Little Altars Everywhere" such a thoroughly joyful and welcome noise."-- Andrew Ward, NPR commentator and author of "Out Here: A Newcomer's Notes from the Great Northwest""Rebecca Wells' long-awaited first novel is a brilliant piece of work...a structural tour de force...a classic Southern tale of dysfunctional and marginal madness. The author's gift for giving life to so many voices the reader profoundly moved."-- "Seattle Weekly"