Winner of the 2022 Big Moose Prize

This debut is a literary mic drop. From its propulsive start to its satisfying close, Down Here We Come Up captures the convergence of three women who must weigh what's unpalatable against what's best for their children. Maternal sacrifice beats at the heart of this book, but its blood courses through the evolving landscape of race and class in the American south, the expanding drug trade, and the exploitation and abuse of migrant workers. It's an origin story and an examination of belonging composed in vibrant detail, with tone and themes reminiscent of Where the Crawdads Sing and Netflix's Ozark. Down Here We Come Up, like the hospitality attributed to its setting, will draw you in and won't easily let you go.

-Alena Dillon, author of Mercy House and Eyes Turned Skyward

Gripping! A fiery young woman returns home, compelled to undo a heart-twisting mistake. Layers of trouble meet her in a sultry North Carolina summer. Sara Johnson Allen delivers a pulsing, gorgeous debut novel full of schemes of survival, schemes of love.

-Mary-Beth Hughes, author of The Ocean House

In exquisite prose, Sara Johnson Allen explores motherhood in the face of wrenching economic and racial realities of the American south yet weaves moments of joy and exhilaration throughout. Down Here We Come Up is written with such empathy and grace that I felt I knew these women and will carry them with me for a long time.

-Ana Reyes, author of The House in the Pines

Down Here We Come Up stings, and it stings good. A mother's love can be as real as it is transactional. A daughter's roots can endure even as they destroy. Sara Johnson Allen's North Carolina and larger American landscape are startlingly alive on the page. In the space between its scorched grass and freezer burned peas, the book sizzles and aches. A tenacious and moving work.

-Simon Han, author of Nights When Nothing Happened

Kate thought she'd escaped the poverty and shame of her childhood, but when the mistakes and betrayals of her past come calling, she's faced with the debts she owes to history, to blood, and must decide how much she is willing to risk to settle them. Tender, honest, and thought-provoking, Down Here We Come Up is an illuminating journey to the dark heart of forgiveness and self discovery. A daring debut from a writer to watch.

-Meagan Lucas, author of Songbirds and Stray Dogs and Here in the Dark

With Down Here We Come Up, Sara Johnson Allen reminds us that home can be an emotionally messy place--and our mothers even messier. Allen masterfully captures these complexities with propulsive, wholehearted storytelling. This is a remarkable and beautifully written debut!

-Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies