The Green Age of Asher Witherow - Hardcover

Cunningham, M

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1932961003 ISBN 13: 9781932961003

Publisher: Unbridled Books, 2004

Synopsis

In this powerful debut from a young writer of stunning talent, M. Allen Cunningham takes us into a time and place at once gritty and magical, when the future seems filled with promise but where the day’s labor is bone breaking, numbing and always dangerous.

Gorgeously written, historically authentic, The Green Age of Asher Witherow is a novel of tested loyalties, of condemnation and redemption. The characters’ deep emotional lives are complex and vivid, fluctuating from the doomed to the transcendent. As he unpacks his heart, Asher comes to realize that all his early traumas have somehow bonded him to the land surrounding Mount Diablo and infused his life with an inward wealth?a treasure at which we can only wonder.

About this title

Review

"... a remarkable first novel, a feat reminiscent of William Styron’s Lie Down in Darkness, likewise published in the author’s twenty-sixth year. Not only are the stories of both novels carefully designed, but every sentence in each one is crafted with care."--ForeWord Magazine

Compelling and artfully told.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Gritty and magical, fantastic and authentic.
It is one of the best books I've read this year."
--Susan Swagler, The Birmingham News

Lyrical spins a deceptively simple tale from a language as delicate as lace finely-wrought.” RAIN TAXI

"Cunningham captures the feel of 19-th century California with rich detail and memorable characters." The Oregonian

An accomplished first novel from a talented new writer (and presented by an intriguing new publisher), Cunningham’s tale is a mix of wild supposition and real-life facts about what happened in Nortonville, the Contra Costa coal- mining town that disappeared from its post at the foot of Mount Diablo in the late 19th century. . . Part legend, part horror story, part Pacific Rim myth, part fact and part metaphor, "The Green Age of Asher Witherow" is Gothic, yes, but also quite spiritual.” The Santa Cruz Sentinel

Dark and foreboding, vivid in character, grounded in the geography of Northern California, this is an impressive and satisfying debut novel.” The San Jose Mercury News

An amazing first novel.” The Rocky Mountain News

"A story too terrible to keep reading but too compelling to put down."
The Salt Lake Tribune

With heartfelt characters and stunning descriptions, Cunningham presents a historical glimpse of squalor in the mines that will haunt readers.
Highly recommended.”--Library Journal, starred

"The Green Age of Asher Witherow is one of the finest debut novels I've ever read. Cunningham writes with poetic intensity, but this is also a book with enormous narrative drive, memorable characters and relentless drama. And while the author is an artist rather than a scholar, he serves up a wealth of fascinating information about the history of the Golden State. For a twenty-six-year-old novelist to produce this book ought to be impossible, but you hold the shocking evidence in your hands."--Steve Yarbrough, author of THE OXYGEN MAN

"Rarely does a writer combine a strikingly beautiful prose style with an unerring instinct for storytelling. But this is indeed M. Allen Cunningham’s startling accomplishment, in his literary debut, no less. The Green Age of Asher Witherow is an enchanting novel by a lushly talented young writer." Robert Olen Butler, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning A GOOD SCENT FROM A STRANGE MOUNTAIN

The writing in The Green Age of Asher Witherow is beautiful, the details enviable, the landscapes amazing, the characters well-drawn. It=s like this guy is 200 years old, he gets it so right. Cunningham is a writer we'll be hearing a lot more from.”--Tom Franklin, author of HELL AT THE BREACH

The early buzz on this debut novel serves up terms like: "poetic intensity"; "strikingly beautiful prose style"; "unerring instinct for storytelling"; "a startling accomplishment"; and "lushly talented". I will state emphatically that Mr. Cunningham's first novel is all that and much more. This is a literary novel in the finest sense of the word, magnetic and seductive from first word to last. ...This is a book to be savored, written by a gifted wordsmith. It has my highest recommendation.”-- Laurel Johnson, Midwest Book Review

Edition details

• Publisher: Unbridled Books
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1932961003
• ISBN 13: 9781932961003
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288