In a Father's Place - Softcover

Tilghman, Christopher

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312155530 ISBN 13: 9780312155537

Publisher: Picador, 1997

Synopsis

The short stories of Christopher Tilghman are set against the enroached-upon yet still-expansive landscapes of our continent. From a Montanan widow who marries her ranch hand to the aging patriarch of an old Maryland family on the Eastern Shore, Tilghman's characters bring to life the trials and bonds of belonging to one another—as lovers, as friends, as fathers. This collection of stories, the author's first book, is a deeply American work—composed with a keen sense of our past and our predicaments—but also a celebration of our resiliency. Writing in The New York Times Book Review, John Casey called In a Father's Place "a wonderful surprise . . . a beautiful book, making emotions as vivid and rich in perspective as a loved landscape."

About this title

About the Author

Christopher Tilghman's stories have appeared in The New Yorker and many other publications, and several have been selected for The Best American Short Stories anthology. He is also the author of the novel Mason's Retreat.

Review

"A wonderful surprise . . . a beautiful book, making emotions as vivid and rich in perspective as a loved landscape."—John Casey, The New York Times Book Review

"Radiant . . . A gifted writer, blessed with an instinctual feel for the emotional transactions that make up family life."—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"Tilghman does not evade the most difficult, inevitable subjects, writing about love, death, and faith with the grace and depth of understanding of an unmistakably mature talent. Unlike many first-time authors, his work reflects the confidence and authority of a writer who has found his true material, who is writing about about the places, lives, and events that matter to him most . . . An exceptionally assured literary debut."—Douglas Seibold, The Chicago Tribune

"Tilghman's first book announces one of the year's most significant debuts . . . Filled with surprises, along with a profound sense of place, character, and incident."—Time

"Fresh and surprisingly moving . . . This is writing of exceptional strength, beauty, clarity, and resonance . . . A genuinely remarkable book."—Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post

"Tilghman writes with precision, grace, and an honesty that threatens to topple his astonishingly balanced story-telling."—Steve Kettman, The San Francisco Chronicle

"An accomplished and distinguished collection—one of the best, I'd say, since the heyday of Flannery O'Connor."—Bruce Allen, USA Today

"The are fine stories. Mr. Tilghman writes with penetrating intelligence and with grace about important matters."—Richard Ford

"[These stories] have a simple. classic feel, as if written from deep in the American grain . . . A magnificent portrait . . . The debut of the year."—Matthew Gilbert, The Boston Globe

"Tilghman has accomplished what only a true storyteller can do: make the impossible inevitable."—Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times/Newsday

dn0
"Evocative . . . The mood is deliberative and almost super-naturally calm, even as Tilghman's characters confront decisive moments in their lives with varying mixtures of courage, humor, and resignation."—Ralph Novah, People Magazine

"Something new and beautiful in our literature, yet as old as the blood-pull of family love, and the gravity of earth we live on; Tilghman looks behind his characters and under their feet and at their every gesture, to find moral truths; and he is a spiritual writer who often looks at things the rest of us cannot see."—Andre Dubus

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0312155530
• ISBN 13: 9780312155537
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240