Nothing Gold Can Stay: Stories - Hardcover

Rash, Ron

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062202715 ISBN 13: 9780062202710

Publisher: Ecco, 2013

Synopsis

From Ron Rash, PEN / Faulkner Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Serena, comes a new collection of unforgettable stories set in Appalachia that focuses on the lives of those haunted by violence and tenderness, hope and fear—spanning the Civil War to the present day. 

The darkness of Ron Rash’s work contrasts with its unexpected sensitivity and stark beauty in a manner that could only be accomplished by this master of the short story form.

Nothing Gold Can Stay includes 14 stories, including Rash’s “The Trusty,” which first appeared in The New Yorker.

About this title

About the Author

Ron Rash is the author of the 2009 PEN/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestseller Serena and Above the Waterfall, in addition to four prizewinning novels, including The Cove, One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight; four collections of poems; and six collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award. Twice the recipient of the O. Henry Prize, he teaches at Western Carolina University.

From the Back Cover

PEN/Faulkner Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Ron Rash turns again to Appalachia to capture lives haunted by violence and tenderness, hope and fear, in unforgettable stories that span from the Civil War to the present day.

In the title story, two drug-addicted friends return to the farm where they worked as boys to steal their former boss's gruesomely unusual war trophies. In "The Trusty," which first appeared in The New Yorker, a prisoner sent to fetch water for his chain gang tries to sweet-talk a farmer's young wife into helping him escape, only to find that she is as trapped as he is. In "Something Rich and Strange," a diver is called upon to pull a drowned girl's body free from under a falls, but he finds her eerily at peace below the surface. The violence of Rash's characters and their raw settings are matched only by their resonance and stark beauty, a masterful combination that has earned Rash an avalanche of praise.

Reviews

This collection of stories takes place in small areas in western North Carolina, many dipping into people’s lives that are about to change and staying long enough to see the consequences of their actions or plans. The paths that the people take give Rash the chance to let us get to know their lives and the history of the area, all compellingly told in an even tone. Time moves back and forth seamlessly, resulting in outcomes that, although not always fully revealed, nevertheless feel inevitable. In many of the stories, people who try to leave or change their current circumstances end up worse off. For instance, in “Those Who Are Dead Are Only Now Forgiven,” the story of a town, a house, and kids all hit hard by the bad economy, a couple of high-school sweethearts get all the way up to the financial-aid forms for college before the girl changes her mind. His visits home find her a meth addict, and their world of options diminish. Within the confines of place, the similarities and varieties of the stories make this a wonderful collection. --Lani Smith

Edition details

• Publisher: Ecco
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062202715
• ISBN 13: 9780062202710
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 239