In A Red Woman Was Crying, Mitchell achieves the nearly impossible: writing as an “outsider,” he immerses his reader in the interiors of Pacific Islanders without simplifying the people, condescending to them, or romanticizing them. These stories are told from the points of view of Nagovisi people young and old, male and female, gentle and fierce, and by narrating their lives in their own voices, Mitchell conjures characters complex and remarkably real. A highly original collection, quietly lyrical and wise.

- Ann Pancake, author of Strange As This Weather Has Been