Immensely rich, readable….Large ambition, compassion and psychological depth, not to mention the pleasures of Valerie Sayers’s graceful prose.

– New York Times Book Review (A “Notable Book of the Year,” 1996.)

A perfectly pitched novel…. A compelling read from a writer for whom life is not an abstract notion but a quirkily real, always exactly rendered place where ordinary people can be touched by unexpected grace as they struggle to survive.

– Kirkus

A splendid storyteller, Sayers brings the reader into Tim’s cluttered, fevered mind. Both expansive and intimate, Brain Fever is a rare novel about love, family, reconciliation and the precarious tightrope between sanity and madness.

– Boston Globe

Fascinating and heart-breaking…. [Sayers] has just as strong an ear for the inner musings and outward dialogue of her characters.

– South Bend Tribune

Splendidly accomplished. Tim’s voice has the flawless pitch of grace and grief…. no false chords in this compelling, engaging novel.

– The State

Describes with humor and compassion how Tim lets himself go crazy…. reveals distressing truths about the complexity and irony of human connections…. Yet Brain Fever is not a tragedy.

– San Francisco Chronicle

A comic masterpiece. Brain Fever is a triumph of voice…funky, perfectly pitched, wryly perceptive…. Valerie Sayers has Walker Percy’s sardonic, understated wit and his sense of the absurd…. Follows in the tradition of other incorrigible rogues in literature, reminding the reader, off and on, of A Fine Madness or The Ginger Man or The Horse’s Mouth…. Sayers possesses all the gifts to pull if off with a nimbleness rare in contemporary fiction.

– Memphis Commercial Appeal

Brash and supple…. Graced by a tenacious and generous vision.

– Washington Post

An energetic and absorbing tale.

– National Catholic Reporter

With an eye for telling details, Sayers depicts a road trip into madness that is touching, funny and…engaging.

– New City

A brilliantly agile road novel….This witty, picaresque story is also a skillful, philosophical allegory about the lines between faith and madness. Brain Fever is a novel with wide appeal.

– Chicago Tribune (Named a “Favorite Book of 1997”)