The writing is brilliant and economical, especially about the environment, and there’s all sorts of information here for the taking, but essentially this is a novel of character. And a very good one.
—Library Journal

Tilley handles decadeslong character arcs with empathy, resulting in a resonant and humanistic novel.
— Kirkus Reviews

Against the Wind is an intricate and elegantly compelling novel, notable for both its political and personal acuity. Jim Tilley writes with deep feeling for his characters and great command of his fascinating materials.
— Peter Ho Davies, author of The Fortunes

Against the Wind is a big old-fashioned novel with contemporary concerns: gender, adultery, wind energy, business acquisitions. But at its heart, Jim Tilley’s debut novel is about the ageless concerns of love and loss and hope that we all share.
— Ann Hood, author of Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food

Poet Jim Tilley’s compulsively readable debut novel, Against the Wind, is a rumination on how the past stretches its long fingers into the present. Set in Canada and the U.S., the novel tells the story of Ralph, who is coming to terms with old rivalries and lost love. Told mostly from Ralph’s point of view, and touching on such topical issues as the environment (wind energy) and transgender parenting, this absorbing and tender new novel offers us a view into the male psyche and reminds us of the difficulty of being a man in a culture that judges us all too harshly.
— Cai Emmons, author of Weather Woman

In this contemporary novel of manners, the personal, the professional, and the political are inextricably intertwined. Tilley writes with insight and clarity about people we recognize and situations that hit close to home. Whether he’s writing about changing relationships or chronicling a complex international business deal, Tilley writes with insight and clarity about people and situations we recognize. An important novel about characters facing the winding-down of their professional lives and the approach of life’s third act.
— John Van Kirk, author of Song for Chance

Politics—personal and environmental—form the colorful canvas upon which Jim Tilley paints Against the Wind, a novel that squarely faces the issues of today: the breakdown of families, the struggles to accept a transgender child, and the international policies and rivalries of global energy industries.
— Anne D. LeClaire, author of The Halo Effect and The Lavender Hour