Sweetgirl - Hardcover

Mulhauser, Travis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062400827 ISBN 13: 9780062400826

Publisher: Ecco Press, 2016

Synopsis

A blistering debut driven by the raw, whip-smart voice of Percy James, a fearless sixteen-year-old girl whose search for her missing mother leads to an unexpected discovery and a life-and-death struggle in the harsh frozen landscape of the upper MidwestAs a blizzard bears down, Percy James sets off to find her troubled mother, Carletta. For years, Percy has had to take care of herself and Mama a woman who s been unraveling for as long as her daughter can remember. Fearing Carletta is strung out on meth and won t survive the storm, Percy heads for Shelton Potter s cabin, deep in the woods of northern Michigan.But when Percy arrives, there is no sign of Carletta. Searching the house, she finds Shelton and his girlfriend drugged into oblivion and a crying baby girl left alone in a freezing room upstairs. From the moment the baby wraps a tiny hand around her finger, Percy knows she must save her a split-second decision that commences a dangerous odyssey in which she must battle the elements and evade Shelton and a small band of desperate criminals hell-bent on getting that baby back.As the storm breaks and violence erupts, Percy will be forced to confront the haunting nature of her mother s affliction, and come to find her own fate tied more and more inextricably to that of the baby she is determined to save.Filled with the sweeping sense of cultural and geographic isolation of its setting the hills of fictional Cutler County in northern Michigan Sweetgirlis an affecting exploration of courage, sacrifice, and the ties that bind, a taut and darkly humorous tour de force that is horrifying, tender, and hopeful.Advance Praise for Sweetgirlis a gritty, compelling novel of a world where even a sixteen-year-old must confront what Edith Wharton called the hard considerations of the poor. Mulhauser depicts his people and their landscape with uncompromising fidelity. Ron Rash Travis Mulhauser s Sweetgirl is a riveting novel about a bunch of drug addicts and drug dealers and booz

About this title

Review:

A riveting novel... far, far funnier than it has any right to be. If you re a fan of Charles Portis and Denis Johnson--and if you re not, then you should be--then this is book is exactly what you ve been wanting, what you ve been waiting for. --Brock Clarke, author of The Happiest People in the World"

[Sweetgirl is] filled with true wit, cunning, and the unwanted wisdom of a child denied a childhood. This novel comes on like the blizzard at its center, and leaves you dazzled and dazed not only by how much Travis Mulhauser knows, but how deeply he cares. --Michael Parker, author of All I Have in this World"

Sweetgirl is a gritty, compelling novel of a world where even a sixteen-year-old must confront what Edith Wharton called the hard considerations of the poor. Mulhauser depicts his people and their landscape with uncompromising fidelity. --Ron Rash"

There s a big old neon heart pulsing on every page of Sweetgirl, like the sign to a bar you can t help but enter. I felt thrilled and shocked, and I couldn t stop turning the pages. Travis Mulhauser is a writer to be reckoned with. --Lindsay Hunter, author of Ugly Girls and Don't Kiss Me"

[A] compulsively readable novel...finish the first chapter and you will be hooked...violent, dark, and impressively redemptive... Sweetgirl is a upper-Midwestern homage to great American quest novels like True Grit and Winter s Bone. It is a truly memorable and remarkable read. --Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs"

The perfect balance of humor and heartache... a masterful debut... as wise as it is suspenseful, as funny as it is tragic... written with guts, grit, and grace, Sweetgirl is the book you want to keep you company on a cold winter s night. --Ploughshares, Best Books of the New Year"

Sweetgirl works on so many levels, it s difficult to know how to classify it... hilarious, heartbreaking and true, a major accomplishment from an author who looks certain to have an impressive career ahead of him. --NPR"

smart, taut, and believable writing --St. Louis Post-Dispatch"

Mulhauser has created a suspenseful tale of sadness and redemption. --Herald-Sun (Durham, NC)"

So good that I read a few paragraphs aloud to my podiatrist... Sweetgirl, by Travis Mulhauser of Durham. Though meth and drugs infest almost every page, this debut novel is chillingly lyrical and filled with a love so raw and fierce it takes your breath. --Charlotte Observer"

About the Author:

Travis Mulhauser is from Petoskey, Michigan. He currently lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife and two children.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0062400827
• ISBN 13: 9780062400826
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256