BUY
LOVE IN THE TIME OF INCARCERATION
MEDIA COVERAGE
LOVE IN THE TIME OF INCARCERATION
(formerly published as LOVE LOCKDOWN)
An empathetic and well-characterized book that will add complexity to debates about mass incarceration.
“Greenwood paints a colorful portrait of the world of MWIs… Enriched by the author’s curiosity and empathy, and shot through with memorable details (Jo and Benny ‘toast[ed] each other with blue Powerade from the vending machine’), this is an intriguing look at a little-known world.”
"LOVE IN THE TIME OF INCARCERATION is a tour de force of empathetic nonfiction storytelling. Elizabeth Greenwood goes to the heart of our prisons’ modern romantic relationships, and returns with a morality tale about what’s gained and lost when America perpetuates the carceral state."
–Vanessa Grigoriadis, author of Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent on Campus
“With deep empathy, wisdom and an irrepressible sense of humor that finds lightness even in the darkest places, Elizabeth Greenwood has brought her journalistic brilliance to bear on relationships forged under the most extreme circumstances imaginable. This is a must-read for anyone who cares about the nature of love, both in prison and out.”
Emily Gould, author of Perfect Tunes
LOVE IN THE TIME OF INCARCERATION is a book about five monogamous relationships under extreme conditions: metal cages, skewed power dynamics, traumatic past lives. Through Elizabeth Greenwood's insightful, engaging narration, these relationships begin to seem less alien and more strikingly familiar. By the end I was convinced that Greenwood had unearthed the ultimate American romance stories: flawed people loving one another imperfectly, against a backdrop of violence. An important new work by a fearless essayist.
Kerry Howley, author of Thrown
A pernicious stereotype persists about people, especially women, who fall in love and marry prisoners. They lack self-esteem, crave love, have voids to fill, and must be desperate. In thorough, empathetic immersive journalism, Elizabeth Greenwood blows apart stereotype to portray the honest, painful, unflinching relationships of several couples separated, yet brought together, by incarceration. LOVE IN THE TIME OF INCARCERATION is a testament to the power of action, belief, and hope—and urges us to rethink the toll of mass incarceration on loved ones who live free, but with force fields around their hearts and lives.
Sarah Weinman, author of The Real Lolita and editor of Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit & Obsession
Love can be by turns funny, life-affirming, and heart-breaking; the same can be said about Elizabeth Greenwood's LOVE IN THE TIME OF INCARCERATION, a warmly engaging look at how relationships find a way (or don't) despite a criminal justice system that stacks the deck against them.
Rachel Monroe, author of Savage Appeties: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession