Shelter - Softcover

Phillips

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571177220 ISBN 13: 9780571177226

Publisher: FABER AND FABER, 1996

Synopsis

In a West Virginia forest in 1963, a group of children at summer camp enter a foreboding Eden and experience an unexpected rite of passage. Shelter is an astonishing portrayal of an American loss of innocence as witnessed by a mysterious drifter named Parson, two young sisters, Lenny and Alma, and a feral boy called Buddy. Together they come to understand bravery and the importance of compassion.
Phillips unearths a dangerous beauty in this primeval terrain and in the hearts of her characters. Lies, secrets, erotic initiations, and the bonds of love between friends, families, and generations are transformed in a leafy wilderness undiminished by societal rules and dilemmas. Cast in Phillips’ stunning prose, with an unpredictable cast of characters and a shadowy, suspenseful narrative, Shelter is a an enduring achievement from one of the finest writers of our time.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"Ms. Phillips has again put her finger on the collective (and racing) pulse... The steamy West Virginia forest has such intensity that the book's pages almost seem limp and dappled. In this ominous garden, she carefully plots a fall, a confrontation with evil and with the desolation of family estrangement."
-- The New York Times Book Review

"In language and rhythms as carefully wrought as poetry, Phillips layers sensual detail on deeply felt emotion."
-- The Washington Post Book World

"Phillips has shown herself capable of mixing the banal and the transcendent, the ugly and the beautiful, until they become one reality, so apparently true one feels one has lived it. Bellington, West Virginia, and its environs are her answer to the Yoknapatawpha County of Faulkner... no one writing fiction in the U.S. today comes near her for linguistic beauty and atavistic, almost reluctant, wisdom."
--New Statesman & Society

From the Back Cover:

“Astonishing. . . . Phillips has gone into the garden and headed straight for the serpent’s throat.” –The Boston Globe

“Mesmerizing. . . . The physical world is so thoroughly and beautifully evoked that within pages we’re completely drawn in.” –The Washington Post

“Written in prose that is often breathtakingly beautiful, Shelter is a rich, vivid novel of moral and psychological complexity destined to stand alongside works by Faulkner and other masters of Southern literature.” –Vanity Fair

“This defiant, frighteningly beautiful novel is as disturbing as its setting. Built to last, Shelter feels like Phillips’ bid for immortality.” –Harper’s Bazaar

About this edition

• Publisher: FABER AND FABER
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0571177220
• ISBN 13: 9780571177226
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320