Here’s Waldo

“Liza Olson’s debut novel occupies an important space in the psyche of American fiction. Spanning sixteen years in the life of Waldo Collins—who isn’t quite Holden Caulfield as much as a nerdy, lower-middle class kid growing up in the suburban shadows of Chicago—Here’s Waldo is a testament to disenfranchisement.”

– Gauraa Shekhar, Maudlin House

“Here’s Waldo asks us to recall the adventures and misadventures of our own teenage years, reminding readers (especially of a certain age) that life was more spontaneous, more dangerous, and more likely to spin out-of-control in the days before ubiquitous screens and the safety net of cell phones and constant supervision. While we ride Waldo’s true-to-life rollercoaster, we re-experience our own past, our own formative years, making Here’s Waldo one of my favorite books of the year.”

– Joshua A.H. Harris, author of Unorthodoxy

“Olson seriously came out swinging with this debut novel. … Told through bite-sized but hard-hitting flash fiction-esque chapters, this narrative, centered largely around growing up in a dysfunctional lower-income household in Des Plaines, Illinois, is raw in its subject matter and blow-by-blow relating of events, yet rendered with beautiful prose. I found myself going whole paragraphs in admiration of the flowing descriptions. … showed the mind of a true humanist at work.”

– Zach MacDonald, author of Itsuki

 You can order your copy here.