Lost Nation: A Novel - Softcover

Lent, Jeffrey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080213985X ISBN 13: 9780802139856

Publisher: Grove Press, 2003

Synopsis

Lost Nation delves beneath the bright, promising veneer of early-nineteenth-century New England to unveil a startling parable of individualism and nationhood. The novel opens with a man known as Blood, guiding an oxcart of rum toward the wild country of New Hampshire, an ungoverned territory called the Indian Stream -- a land where the luckless or outlawed have made a fresh start. Blood is a man of contradictions, of learning and wisdom, but also a man with a secret past that has scorched his soul. He sets forth to establish himself as a trader, hauling with him Sally, a sixteen-year-old girl won from the madam of a brothel over a game of cards. Their arrival in the Indian Stream triggers an escalating series of clashes that serves to sever the master/servant bond between them, and offers both a second chance with life. But as the conflicts within the community spill over and attract the attention of outside authorities, Blood becomes a target to those seeking easy blame for their troubles. As plots unravel and violence escalates, two young men of uncertain identity appear, and Blood is forced to confront dreaded apparitions of his past, while Sally is offered a final escape.

About this title

Review:

In his second novel, Lost Nation, Jeffrey Lent follows Blood, a mysterious rogue attempting to make a new life for himself in Indian Stream, an ungoverned territory in 19th-century northern New Hampshire. Intending to start a trading business, Blood brings with him rum, supplies, and Sally, a 16-year-old girl he won in a card game from the madam of a brothel. A rugged "man of contradictions," Blood is learned and occasionally kind, yet capable of considerable cruelty and violence. Rumors quickly circulate in Indian Stream regarding his troubled past, and Blood is made a scapegoat when conflicts escalate in the area following his arrival. As Blood's history is gradually revealed, it becomes clear that his only chance at redemption is through confrontation.

Demonstrating his gift for narration, Lent has created a rich and entertaining novel from this somewhat familiar outline, filled with well-developed characters and stark, evocative descriptions. In its epic, unflinching style and omniscient voice, Lent's prose is reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy and Faulkner, to whom he is often compared. Wolves, scoundrels, and barbaric natives abound, and Lent never shies away from the gritty, realistic detail appropriate for the novel's harsh setting. Though light on profundities, Lost Nation should offer readers many engaging reasons to return. --Ross Doll

About the Author:

Jeffrey Lent was born in Vermont in 1958 and grew up there and in western New York State. His education began at home where he learned to read at an early age and began writing shortly thereafter. Formal education began in a one-room school in North Pomfret, Vermont and continued in public schools until the eight grade when he enrolled at Glen Springs Academy in Lakemont, New York. Glen Springs was one of the many schools in the alternative education movement of the late 1960's and 1970's and is now defunct. Likewise his higher education began at Franconia College in New Hampshire where he studied Literature and Psychology and took part in the Great Race for Space. When that college closed in 1978, he took a year off from school and chased his first love from the White Mountains to the Florida Keys and back again to New Hampshire but failed utterly to convince her she was his soul-mate. During this time he composed reams of bad poetry and began forays into long fiction. He returned briefly to institutional education, enrolling for a year at the State University of New York's College at Purchase where he focused entirely on writing and the study of Literature but did not complete undergraduate studies. With the supreme moronic certainty of the twenty-one year old he left school, confident he would be published to great acclaim by, at the time, what seemed a conservative guess of twenty-five.

It took almost fifteen years, five failed novels and a tremendous level of creative lifestyle (read- miserable poverty) to attain that initial goal. During this time he learned serious and helpful lessons in perseverance, focus, and humility on what Jim Harrison so aptly refers to as 'this bloody journey'. He was fortunate during this time to have the support of many friends and family members, as well as a slender thread of connections with a variety of encouraging editors and agents.

But the true key and bedrock throughout those years was and remains, Marion Walton Lent, whom he met in Asheville, North Carolina in 1985 and married in 1988. First reader, best critic, staunch and steadfast in her belief, loyalty and love. Even the winter when they were washing their clothes in the bathtub because they could not afford a laundromat, she never faltered, never doubted. They now make their home on a fifty acre farm in central Vermont and have two daughters, Esther and Clara.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 080213985X
• ISBN 13: 9780802139856
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384