The Unmade World (2018)
"The Unmade World is a wise, moving, and deeply compelling story of our time here in the tumultuous early years of the 21st Century." —Andre Dubus III
“The Unmade World is tone perfect, skillfully constructed and consummately realized. It's the work of an extraordinary novelist. I'm fortunate to have read it."— Richard Ford
"Steve Yarbrough is a master novelist, and this may be his finest work. Every word of The Unmade World rings true. Its settings are indelible. Its characters live and breathe. For a long time to come, I'll be pondering what this book has taught me about the human heart."— Amy Greene
“This many-layered novel is a thriller, a love story, a travelogue full of richly observed scenes from Polish and American life, a morality tale replete with betrayal, remorse and lust for revenge, and a hilarious comedy. The tight control Yarbrough exercises over the ten-year span of the story kept me turning the pages and left me full of admiration.”— Colm Toibin
"American journalist Richard Brennan and Polish businessman Bogdan Baranowski find their lives forever altered after Baranowski crashes into Brennan’s car and leaves him a widow. Brennan’s ambition fades as he copes with the loss of his wife and daughter, while Baranowski turns to the bottle to quiet his guilt. Yarbrough explores regret and loss against the backdrop of our topsy-turvy political era."—Washington Post
"Yarbrough is at the top of his game. The Unmade World is a marvel. It’s the kind of book that would equally impress readers of John Grisham and of Jesmyn Ward. Throughtful, entertaining, rich with detail, each page entrances."—Jackson Clarion-Ledger
"Elegant . . . a richly layered story spanning 10 years and convincingly linking two strangers across the globe."—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Stories can unmake worlds as well as make them . . . Yarbrough’s relentless and intricate account of his characters’ lives speaks for itself; beauty and care entice them to face their worlds again with hope."—Fiction Writers Review
“Much of the strength and beauty of this novel lies in Yarbrough’s sympathetic depiction of his two protagonists—both men are wholly believable, complex individuals, the kind of fully realized characters who stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page. But there are other pleasures here as well: vivid portraits of sunny, hot Fresno and the somber beauty of Krakow, a suspenseful subplot involving a horrific mass murder, and a cast of engaging secondary characters who make the world of the novel as rich as reality.“—Chapter 16
"Hypnotic."—AudioFile Magazine
Yarbrough’s stylistically assured tale provides a profound meditation on grief, guilt, resilience, and hope as well as authentic insights into the inner lives of his characters as they attempt to excavate meaning from the ruins.—Booklist
"Intricate and satisfying . . . the characters are compelling and the narrative steers clear of easy moralizing or predictable endings."— Publishers Weekly
“With the flavor of an international thriller and deep explorations of grieving and healing, The Unmade World is a novel with heart.”—Foreward Magazine
Rich with issues of guilt, grief and cultural dislocation; an accomplished work.—Library Journal
"Despite his book's depiction of dark realities . . . Yarbrough’s pensively hopeful view of people’s capacity to endure, even prosper, shines through."— Kirkus (starred)