Praise for Come Round Right

"Come Round Right is a raw and affecting coming-of-age novel set amid the social rifts of the Vietnam War era." -Foreword Reviews

"Come Round Right is a novel written from the heart. Alan Govenar masterfully juxtaposes small moments and individual stories against the panorama of 1970s American culture. As the relationship between Aaron and Adriana takes its romantic, difficult course, we become immersed in a story where menace, violence, and trauma take center stage. Written with wit, grace, and transcendent compassion, this novel places Alan Govenar squarely in the tradition of Bernard Malamud, Cynthia Ozick, and Saul Bellow." -Jaina Sanga, author of Silk Fish Opium

"Govenar turns the reader into a hitchhiker in this beautiful, often trippy, and intimate exploration of the search for meaning when innocence is lost. Amidst the complex backdrop of the 1970s, an eighteen-year-old pseudo-hippie sets out to find answers without knowing the questions. His search for love, identity, purity, restoration, and his voice in the overwhelming and infinite universe, takes the reader on a fast-paced journey across North America. It is raw and haunting and will stay with the reader long after the final page is read." -Hannes Barnard, author of Halley's Comet

"Set against the ingloriousness of the late 1960s, with a keen yearning for all that freedom, Kerouac whispering in his ear, and the first true love of his young life beguiling him to set aside any and all apprehensions, Aaron throws caution to the wind, grabs Adriana's hand and sets out, all the while trying to ignore the small voice of terror riding on his shoulder. He should have listened, as he is soon to discover in a nightmarish encounter with a pair of brutes who assault him and his girlfriend. But just as the road drove him into a well of deep darkness, so can it take him to a better place, if he has the courage to give it a chance. Told in a non-chronological series of numbered drivers and destinations, this is a road trip that shakes us up, and ultimately leaves us believing in the power of simple kindness, and the healing wonder of music. This story gives us that map. Hold out your thumb and go." -Kathi Appelt, New York Times best-selling author of The Underneath and Angel Thieves

Praise for Alan Govenar

"Haunting, heartbreaking, and always life-affirming, The Early Years of Rhythm & Blues is a triumph of the spirit and a celebration of the soul." -New York Times

"There may be no regional genre of music more prone to tooting its own horn than Texas blues, and with good reason. Alan Govenar's new book, Texas Blues . . . is the finest, most comprehensive roundup yet." -Austin Chronicle

"In this compact, vivid hybrid, Govenar transforms his taped and transcribed interviews with dancer Norma Miller into her account of life as a globe-traveling Lindy Hopper in the 1930s and '40s . . . Govenar captures both Miller's remarkable experiences (including incidents of racism on the road) and her sparkling evocation of American music and dance when swing was king." -Kirkus Reviews on Stompin' at the Savoy

"Govenar deftly teases out . . . a dialogue about race, justice, and class in America." -Huffington Post on Texas in Paris