Fourth of July Creek - Softcover

Henderson, Smith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062286463 ISBN 13: 9780062286468

Publisher: Ecco Press, 2015

Synopsis

In this shattering and iconic American novel, PEN prize-winning writer, Smith Henderson explores the complexities of freedom, community, grace, suspicion and anarchy, brilliantly depicting our nation's disquieting and violent contradictions.

After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral eleven-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face to face with the boy's profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times.

But as Pete's own family spins out of control, Pearl's activities spark the full-blown interest of the F.B.I., putting Pete at the center of a massive manhunt from which no one will emerge unscathed.

About this title

Review:

"This is a hell of a great book."---Esquire

"On a political level, Henderson skillfully presages the contemporary political environment in his portrayal of the America of three decades ago. On a deeper level, this dark, compassionate novel finds in Jeremiah's-and Pete's-pain a mirror of everyone's. This is a significant debut."--Library Journal

"Born and raised in Montana, author Smith Henderson knows the terrain and its people, crafting a profoundly American tale that explores our love for freedom, our individualism and the price people sometimes pay."--AARP

"[A] remarkable first novel..."--Shelf Awareness

"First novels don't come much more confidently written or fully imagined than this."--New York Times

"Breathtaking...heartbreaking...Henderson's immersive, colorful style makes this scenic journey worthwhile. He's a curious kind of hard-boiled poet - part Raymond Chandler, part Denis Johnson."--Entertainment Weekly (Grade A)

"The best book I've read so far this year...Henderson choreographs these parts so masterfully that the novel is never less than wholly engaging... All week I was looking for opportunities to slip back into these pages and follow the trials of this rural social worker."--Washington Post

"Fourth of July Creek is an extremely dark book, but Henderson's lyrical sentences lend an elegance-an importance-to the lives of his fictional children. By tenderly portraying horrible family secrets, Henderson is able to illuminate the richness and possibility in even the most painful lives."--Kirkus Reviews

"A soul-wrenching debut novel... Henderson's talents lie in the tenderness and empathy he extends to (almost) every character in the book, no matter how damaged."--O, the Oprah Magazine

"Henderson, a Montana native, is a nimble wordsmith... His debut novel gives us flawed people, a bleak setting, and a story that's impossible to forget."--Parnassus Books / Musing

Book Description:

A dark and powerful debut novel set in the hardscrabble American heartlands.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0062286463
• ISBN 13: 9780062286468
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480