2024 International Book Awards Winner in Best New Fiction
2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner in General Fiction/Novel (70,000 to 100,000 Words)

“No More Empty Spaces takes us on a surprising twist-filled journey into not only a remote area of Turkey, but the remote places of the human heart. The protagonist, a geologist hired to work on a dangerous dam, must also confront his own dangerous behaviors. Redemption lies in mindful care of self, family, and planet. Indeed, that is the hard work all the characters confront, leading them—and the reader—to fresh ideas about how to fill the empty spaces within us all.”
—Laura Pritchett, winner of the PEN USA Award for Fiction

“Green’s prose is tender and keenly observant . . . . A fascinating and frequently moving novel of family and geology.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“ . . . impressed the hell out of this reader.No More Empty Spacesis a rich and rewarding read, a novel to savor, like a steaming cup of Turkish coffee.”
—Sharon Oard Warner, author of Writing the Novella

“No More Empty Spaces is an excellent debut—straightforward and yet deceptively complex as it situates its multilayered narratives between the competing forces of nature, both human and geological, over time. Green’s depictions of the rugged and earthquake-prone Anatolian Mountain region of Turkey evoke a dangerously shifting landscape every bit as unstable and unpredictable as the broken American family that seeks to heal itself there.”
—James Anderson, author of The Never-Open Desert Diner and Lullaby Road

“Love is never simple. If we do it right, it costs everything. This sensitive, probing novel made me rethink what it means to have mastery: in a discipline; in a relationship; ultimately, over our own flawed selves. These characters battle it out and emerge transformed, learning to trust one another to fill the cracks and empty spaces life doles out. The rich science and evocative landscapes drew me in, but I stayed for the Ross family. I’m glad I did.”
—Summer Wood, author of Arroyo and Raising Wrecker

“No More Empty Spaces is a wonderful read, with some of the best prose I’ve seen regarding the intractable forces of nature. This struggling blended family faces every kind of overwhelming challenge, from love to liquor to the great dam at Kayakale in Turkey. The book made me want to go there and see this extraordinary landscape for myself!”
—A. R. Taylor, author of Jenna Takes the Fall and Call Me When You’re Dead

“When Will Ross is hired to assess a dam in a remote region of Turkey, he brings his three reluctant children to live at the edge of the failing project. No More Empty Spaces is a generous and large-hearted portrayal of a family in precarity and a nuanced exploration of the tradeoffs we make to protect the people we love against forces natural and man-made. These characters are as complex and layered as the geology Will Ross is studying. A beautiful, deeply-felt, and transporting debut.”
—Kirstin Valdez Quade, author of The Five Wounds and Night at the Fiestas

“D. J. Green skillfully intertwines a story of what lies below: the earth with its complex geology and a man’s emotions, also buried deeply, each affected by history and environment. In No More Empty Spaces, Green takes us to the world of Turkey where Will, an engineering geologist, moves his family while he seeks to investigate a problematic dam structure, along with unexpected challenges to his beliefs about family and integrity. Green’s debut is both masterful and engaging.”
—Sharon Bippus, author of This Blue Earth

“D. J. Green is that rare writer who takes us inside worlds we may never be able to experience firsthand.”
—Will Mackin, author of Bring Out the Dog

“In Green’s poignant debut novel, the drama of rocks beautifully parallels the unfolding emotional drama, and the dam is both a fully rendered physical entity and a powerful metaphor. The story of the Ross family feels so real, and so engaging, I rooted for all of them until the deeply satisfying ending. No More Empty Spaces is a riveting and thought-provoking page-turner about love, commitment, growth, and adapting to change. I loved it.”
—Kate Christensen, author of Welcome Home, Stranger