The Wooden Nickel: A Novel - Hardcover

Carpenter, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316134007 ISBN 13: 9780316134002

Publisher: Little, Brown, 2002

Synopsis

A third generation lobsterman with an unreliable heart, Lucky Lunt finds himself trying to adapt to change when his wife starts selling sea-glass sculptures to tourists, his daughter prepares for college, his son defies the law, and he is forced to hire a deckhand--all of which lead to a heroic confrontation with his enemies and a dastardly whale. 25,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

William Carpenter teaches literature at the College of the Atlantic in Maine.

From Publishers Weekly

Move over, Richard Russo, there's an impressive new chronicler of the lives of hard-edged working men on the scene. The protagonist of Carpenter's second novel (after A Keeper of Sheep) is a Maine lobsterman, Lucas "Lucky" Lunt. His name is ironic, because the only luck Lucas has is bad. At 46, he's already had two angioplasties that have left him with a fluttering ticker, deeply in debt and unable to haul the huge lobster traps alone. After 20 years of docility, his wife, Sarah, is suddenly asserting her independence, his son is a delinquent skinhead, and his daughter is heading for college. He hires Ronette, the recently separated wife of the local lobster buyer, to be his sternman, and not surprisingly, the two fall into each other's arms. When Ronette becomes pregnant, Sarah leaves, and the downward spiral continues when Lucas gets into a territorial dispute with other lobstermen and wings one of them in an exchange of gunfire. He refuses to promise future good behavior and loses his fishing license. Sarah seizes the family home that has been Lunt property for three generations, and he's reduced to living with Ronette in a dilapidated trailer. He then begins fishing illegally for a renegade buyer and encounters a rogue whale that has more in common with him than he realizes; the climax involves fast and furious action. Carpenter's prose is strong and sinewy: the Maine fishing community is evoked with pungent realism, and the characters are memorable in their attempts to eke out an existence in a harsh environment. This is a fully engaging story that creates a powerful portrait of a man struggling to make sense of a world that seems rigged against him. Agent, Alison Bond. Regional tour.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0316134007
• ISBN 13: 9780316134002
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320