http://www.karenolsson.com/events daily 0.75 2026-06-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/558d837ee4b049295d8636c8/c1a5ec09-4b79-446d-abda-d91ce8c4dccf/dear+thorns.jpg EVENTS http://www.karenolsson.com/blog daily 0.75 2015-07-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5093f258e4b0979eac7cb197/1363794219378-O1P5OKOXCULCSM9MDWLQ/51811+seattle+0202_2.jpg Blog http://www.karenolsson.com/other-writing-1 daily 0.75 2015-11-23 http://www.karenolsson.com/about daily 0.75 2013-03-26 http://www.karenolsson.com/about-2 daily 0.75 2026-06-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/558d837ee4b049295d8636c8/48d69204-831d-4251-beb0-786f22db2c56/Screenshot+2026-06-04+at+12.40.54%E2%80%AFPM.png ABOUT photo by Wynn Myers http://www.karenolsson.com/waterloo daily 0.75 2015-09-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/558d837ee4b049295d8636c8/1437581033057-IAE8AI7DGUVP8E10HG5X/image-asset.jpeg WATERLOO http://www.karenolsson.com/novels daily 0.75 2016-01-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/558d837ee4b049295d8636c8/1441393892841-10KAYMSAE34C1W8GIQDU/image-asset.png ALL THE HOUSES http://www.karenolsson.com/the-weil-conjectures daily 1.0 2026-06-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/558d837ee4b049295d8636c8/b08937e0-38e0-449a-9944-1f6d6a3e05f3/Screenshot+2026-06-04+at+12.29.13%E2%80%AFPM.png THE WEIL CONJECTURES https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/558d837ee4b049295d8636c8/1558112994515-4UWM5Y9J5SSG69GCP37M/the+weil+conjectures+final.jpg THE WEIL CONJECTURES http://www.karenolsson.com/dear-thorns daily 0.75 2026-06-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/558d837ee4b049295d8636c8/c1a5ec09-4b79-446d-abda-d91ce8c4dccf/dear+thorns.jpg DEAR THORNS - DEAR THORNS “Dear Thorns is a passionate, intelligent novel of mid-life awakening and reckoning. Every page held me in its grip. Karen Olsson’s prose is exquisite, subtle, and wonderfully evocative.” —Dana Spiotta, author of Wayward “Dear Thorns tracks the mysteries of our most complex and vulnerable landscapes—the natural world and human desire. Karen Olsson lays bare her characters’ loves, fears, and trespasses with deep empathy and stunning insight, revealing for her lucky readers the feral and dangerous beauty of our animal hearts.” —Bret Anthony Johnston, author of Encounters with Unexpected Animals Lora has worked at the wildlife refuge in South Texas for seven years, trapping and studying the elusive Texas ocelot. Interns come and go, but when Ben arrives, something is awakened in Lora that has long been dormant. As Lora and Ben track the beautiful, almost mystical animal, tensions arise on the refuge. Lora’s boss strategizes about how to turn part of the refuge into a hunting destination; an eccentric artist and rancher pitches an unconventional scheme to help the ocelots; and Lora and Ben make a series of impulsive, inappropriate choices. Along the way, the reader learns about Lora’s professional and romantic history—the story of a woman dedicated to her career—and is immersed in the world of the ranchlands just above the Texas-Mexico border, home to a distinct mix of species: animal, plant, and human. With sharp prose and subtle humor, critically-acclaimed writer Karen Olsson mines the gulf between youth and middle age and reckons with the ecological disaster of species loss. Her novel illuminates how the things we do to wild animals—isolating them, reducing their habitats, disconnecting them from other groups—are all things we seem to do to ourselves. Brainy, elegant, and deeply engrossing, Dear Thorns is a portrait of a woman’s idealism in a compromised world.