The Easter House

This tale of two Iowa brothers trying to escape the long shadow of their notorious father is “an almost impossible book to put down” (The Plain Dealer).

This gripping novel tells the tale of the Easter family of Ontarion, Iowa. Ansel Easter was a favored minister until he rescued a grotesque creature from a carnival sideshow. His sons, C and Sam, suffer in the shadow of their outcast father until his violent death. C and Sam leave the home their father built for a new beginning, and find fortune building a lucrative business called the Associates — but when a rash of deaths has the townspeople looking at C and Sam as suspects, they find their father’s legacy reaches further than they expect.

Taut, dark, and engrossing, The Easter House is a brilliant work of fiction by the acclaimed author of Driftless and Jewelweed.

“David Rhodes’s writing is smooth and wry, combining Richard Russo’s genius for the details of small-town thinking and Flannery O’Connor’s flair for shading things toward the weird side of normal.” —Mpls.St. Paul Magazine

"Rhodes's writing is smooth and wry, combining Richard Russo's genius for the details of small-town thinking and Flannery O'Connor's flair for shading things toward the weird side of normal. If there was any justice in the literary world, its shocking end alone would make it an American classic. If you liked Driftless, do yourself a favor and read The Easter House."
—Mpls.St.Paul Magazine