This Bright River: A Novel - Hardcover

Somerville, Patrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316129313 ISBN 13: 9780316129312

Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books, 2012

Synopsis

Lauren Sheehan's career in medicine came to a halt after a sequence of violent events abroad. Now she's back in the safest place she knows--St. Helens, Wisconsin--cut off from career, friendship, and romance.

Ben Hanson's aimless life bottomed out when he went to prison. But after his release, a surprising offer from his father draws him home. In Wisconsin, he finds his family fractured, still unable to face the truth behind his troubled cousin's death a decade earlier.

As Lauren cautiously expands her world and Ben tries to unravel the mysteries of his family and himself, their paths intersect. Could each be exactly what the other needs?

A compelling family drama and a surprising love story, This Bright River confirms Patrick Somerville's status as one of the most exciting young writers at work today.

About this title

About the Author

Patrick Somerville grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and later earned his MFA from Cornell University. He is the author of the story collections Trouble and The Universe in Miniature in Miniature, and the novel The Cradle. He lives with his wife and son in Chicago, where he teaches creative writing at Northwestern University.

Review

"Somerville has a gift for spurring dialogue, and the meandering narrative tributaries he explores stoke our curiosity and build suspense as he crosses the wilderness of madness and bloodshed, lies and loyalty, courage and love in this by turns rolling and raging river of a novel."-Booklist (Starred)

"Richly funny, engrossing, and humane...this is a literary novel for readers who want to be simultaneously caught up in a story and impressed by the author's copious craft and skill."
-Library Journal

"A provoking book: The reader will not escape untouched."
-Kirkus

"A remarkable achievment -- a stellar, bruising book about how place forms character and our capacity to transform ourselves."
-The Chicago Tribune

"The chapters don't roll forward so much as fit together like puzzle pieces. But Mr. Somerville--who has something of the roadside-diner raconteur about him--makes the approach work on the strength of his writing voice. It possesses a sneaky ease and charm that masks the story's building menace."
-The Wall Street Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0316129313
• ISBN 13: 9780316129312
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464