Chosen as the 2026 Powell's Pick for Portland, an all-city reads project
Starred review, Library Journal
"An exquisite blend of storytelling and family history."Library Journal, starred review
I truly loved this novel in stories. Liz Pratos prose is elegant and precise, creating richly drawn characters and a deep sense of place.
Keith Mosman, bookseller, Powells Books
"Purgatoire is a compulsively readable story of migration and loss, love and identity. This delightfully surreal novel follows the threads of history back and forth, resulting in a portrait of a family as American as only an immigration story can be."
Elizabeth Gonzalez James, author of The Bullet Swallower
"Set in the Colorado mining towns, Purgatoire is more than a descent into the raw earth of exploitationit's an examination of hope, secrets, and the relentless forces of human nature. Prato writes with the magic touch, incorporating both the real and the fabulist into one aching, beautiful novel."Rene Denfeld, bestselling author of The Child Finder and The Enchanted
"This fascinating scrapbook of a novel deftly combines fiction, history, memoir, letters, and more to depict a family haunted by love and loss, hope and fear, the here-and-now, the living past, and the mysterious beyond. Liz Prato brings the reader into the hearts and minds of generations of characters, revealing their secrets, their wishes, their regrets, and their inheritances with masterly poise. A vivid and engaging saga."
Shawn Levy, author of Clint: The Man and the Movies
Pratos book speaks directly to the bonds of family, the pain of fracture, and how those histories ripple through to the present day. A deeply American story. Wendy J. Fox, author of The Last Supper
"[ A] timely reflection on the immigrant experienceand how central that is to the American experience."
Powell's Books
The novel achieves profound, multigenerational inclusiveness. Each element is executed with confidence . . . An empathetic, historically attuned novel, Purgatoire is about an immigrant family marked by the gifts and scars of inheritance.
Michele Sharpe, Foreword Reviews
Purgatoire is a gorgeous novel of connection, bringing to life how were tethered across generations, through blood and soil and the stories we carry. Prato moves fluidly between traditional narrative, letters, interview fragments, and ghost stories. Each form reveals new facets of these characters and their tangled roots.
Rebecca Beardsall, Psaltery & Lyre
"A wonderful, compulsive read."
Eugene Scene
Praise for Kids in America: A Gen X Reckoning
"A dazzling exploration into how cultures and identities criss-cross each other.
Lidia Yuknavitch, author of Thrust and The Chronology of Water
"In blending her cultural critique with personal stories, Prato calls to mind Joan Didion's later writing."
Spectrum Culture
Praise for Volcanoes, Palm Trees, and Privilege
. . . a rebuke to cultural appropriation, combined with tribute to a place she loves too much to make her own.
The New York Times
I was moved and astonished by this beautiful book.
Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things
"Liz Prato is beautifully smart about how disempowerment works, and how to combat it."
Jim Shepard, author of The Book of Aron
Praise for Babys on Fire: Stories
Liz Pratos characters blaze with humanity, sensuality, and hope.
Dylan Landis, author of Rainey Royal
Liz Pratos stories are filled with the lost, the lonely and the damned, and she makes all of them sing with a haunting grandeur.
Steve Almond, author of Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow
Ill remember the name Liz Prato and not hesitate to join her again on the page.
Denise Hill, New Pages
"Pratos . . . language is breezy and deceptively casual, while her content is visceral. She reminds us that hope is bigger than our relative smallness.
Laryssa Wirstiuk, Atticus Review
A brilliant collection.
JR Scrafford, Washington Independent Review of Books
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