An Unfinished Life: Library Edition

Spragg, Mark

ISBN 10: 1598955314 ISBN 13: 9781598955316

Publisher: Highbridge Co, 2006

Synopsis

Jean Gilkyson is floundering in a trailer house in Iowa with yet another brutal boyfriend when she realizes this kind of life has got to stop, especially for the sake of her daughter, Griff. But the only place they can run to is Ishawooa, Wyoming, where Jean's loved ones are dead and her father-in-law, the only person who could take them in, wishes that she was too. For a decade, Einar Gilkyson has blamed her for the accident that took his son's life, and he has chosen to go on living himself largely because his oldest friend, Mitch, couldn't otherwise survive. They've been bound together like brothers since the Korean War and now face old age on a faltering ranch, their intimacy even more acute after Mitch was horribly crippled by a grizzly bear while Einar helplessly watched.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

"One of the truest and most original new voices in American letters," as Kent Haruf has written, Mark Spragg now tells the story of a complex, prodigal homecoming.

Jean Gilkyson is floundering in a trailer house in Iowa with yet another brutal boyfriend when she realizes this kind of life has got to stop, especially for the sake of her daughter, Griff. But the only place they can run to is Ishawooa, Wyoming, where Jean's loved ones are dead and her father-in-law, the only person who could take them in, wishes that she was too. For a decade, Einar Gilkyson has blamed her for the accident that took his son's life, and he has chosen to go on living himself largely because his oldest friend couldn't otherwise survive. They've been bound together like brothers since the Korean War and now face old age on a faltering ranch, their intimacy even more acute after Mitch was horribly crippled while Einar helplessly watched.

Of course, ten-year-old Griff knows none of this–only that her father is dead and her mother has bad taste in men. But once she encounters this grandfather she'd never heard about, and the black cowboy confined to the bunkhouse, with irrepressible courage and great spunk she attempts to turn grievous loss, wrath, and recrimination–to which she's naturally the most vulnerable–toward reconciliation and love.

Immediately compelling and constantly surprising, rich in character, landscape, and compassion, An Unfinished Life shows a novelist of extraordinary talents in the fullness of his powers.

About the Author

MARK SPRAGG was born and raised on the Wyoming dude ranch his family had run since 1898. His memoir, Where Rivers Change Direction, chronicling the history of this ranch, won the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, and was a Book Sense Top 10 Pick as well as hitting bestseller lists throughout the West. His previous novel, The Fruit of Stone, is also available on audio from HighBridge. He now lives in Cody, Wyoming.

About this edition

• Publisher: Highbridge Co
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1598955314
• ISBN 13: 9781598955316
• Binding: Preloaded Digital Audio Player