"Sandy and Wayne is tremendous, a taut, tense, magisterial work that has all the concision and sharpness of a great short story, all of the texture and detail of an engrossing novel. The novella is, in my opinion, the hardest fictional form to get right; Steve Yates has proven his mastery of this most gorgeous form."-Lauren Groff, New York Times-bestselling author of Florida and Fates and Furies

"It's hard to imagine a less likely setting for a love story than on a dusty Arkansas road construction crew. But this author makes it work. Sandy and Wayne are as tough and hard-nosed as they come, so their romance is touching without ever being sentimental. Yates makes great use of his insider's knowledge of this setting. In a way, the landscape itself is the star of this story-sometimes lush, sometimes severe and threatening."-Lisa Zeidner, author of five novels, most recently Love Bomb

"A love story with soul, without sap, Sandy and Wayne is bursting with big-hearted wisdom and an admirable empathy for its characters and setting. Call it a novella; call it a short novel; call it a long short story-it doesn't really matter. Just be sure to call it what it is: a stunning achievement by a writer at the peak of his powers."-Andrew Roe, author of The Miracle Girl

"Having proven himself a master of the novel and the short story, Steve Yates has set his sights on the novella. And lucky for us, his readers, that he has. Sandy and Wayne is a burst of adrenaline. At one point, as Sandy and Wayne attempt to save a man's life, Sandy finds herself gripping Wayne's shoulder, waiting to see if the man will open his eyes. Sandy and Wayne will grip you just that way. And won't let go. And your eyes will be opened."-David James Poissant, author of Lake Life and The Heaven of Animals

"What a rare thing: a book that's as compelling and complex a story about work as it is about love (and it's a pretty great love story)."-Tom Nissley, author of A Reader's Book of Days

"Sandy and Wayne is a gripping, white-hot novella about unlikely heroes, marginal but crucial characters who build the roads to where we want to go. They are like 'them people' in the Bible who are never named, and these two just happen to fall in love despite themselves. Steve Yates takes on unusual, fresh material here-the rough lonely jobs of highway workers who gather in dark pool halls at the end of dusty days to drink and imagine a better life. There is the muscular language of hard highway work, the everyday violence of living in the Ozarks, and the landscape filled with cigarette smoke, Peterbilts, Caterpillar earthmovers, and decaying motor lodges."-Margaret McMullan, Clarion Ledger / Hattiesburg American Mississippi Books Page