“Trounstine’s stunner isn’t just about the toll prison life takes on women, it’s about the breaking points in all of our lives, from domestic abuse to an attorney’s rage at injustice to the way memory haunts, fools, and eventually frees us. Rich with love for her indelible characters, Trounstine’s novel is a blindingly original MeToo, showing how even in the darkest environment, female friendship not only nurtures, but builds extraordinary power and light. A truly remarkable read.”
— Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Days of Wonder

“Stories like this help people understand that women’s incarceration carries layers of trauma. So often we are punished when what we truly need are healing centers, support, and restoration. Your book has the potential to open hearts and minds in ways policy reports never could. The world needs this story.”
— Stacey Borden, founder of New Beginnings Reentry Services

“Jean Trounstine’s Sounds Like Trouble to Me is a valuable and important book for many obvious reasons… not least the window it opens into the seldom-seen-by-civilians world of corrections officers.”
— Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls’ Rising, National Book Award finalist, and author of more than twenty other books

“In her remarkable debut novel, Sounds Like Trouble to Me, Jean Trounstine takes readers on a perilous journey through the U.S. legal system, behind bars, and beyond. This affecting tale is soaked with empathy and understanding.”

— Stona Fitch, author of Death Watch

“Sounds Like Trouble to Me is not only a scrutiny of how structural abuse pervades the U.S. prison system, but a narrative about memory, strength in family, and standing up to exploitation. An absorbing page-turner, with complicated lives worthy of a close inspection, this novel succeeds on so many levels and demands our attention.”
— David Moloney, author of Barker House

“Caroline Leavitt is so right, the book is a truly remarkable read.”
— Cosimo Giovine, publisher of Zio Apollo Press

“Sounds Like Trouble to Me took me through so many different emotions. The details in the story were mind blowing… it gives readers insight into how your whole life can change in an instant.”

— Angelia Jefferson, formerly incarcerated freedom fighter, now transform-harm coordinator at Families for Justice as Healing

“This powerful read transported me back to the many housing units in women’s prisons… where courageous women form loving and nurturing communities despite trauma and abuse. Nettie represents many criminalized survivors. A sheroic journey.”

— Olinda Moyd, movement lawyer, decarceration advocate, social justice activist, and law clinic professor

“A gritty, justice-oriented thriller about a corrections officer who finds herself on the other side of the bars.”

— BookStr on Instagram