Kirjahaku

Forty years after the suicide of his best friend's father, a writer revisits the tragedy and tries to unravel the mystery behind one man's inexplicable actions on that icy January day in 1961. Through his own recollections and his fiction-sometimes impossible to separate-he attempts to make sense of a senseless act and, in the process, to examine his youth, his connection to his best friend, Gene, and the enigma of Marie, a beautiful girl whose heart once belonged to both of them and whose spell still lingers through the decades. Spare, haunting, lyrical, Sundown, Yellow Moon is a piercing study of love and betrayal, grief and desire, youth and remembrance. Larry Watson not only brings to life a distinct period in history but, most affectingly, reveals the interplay of memory, secrets, and the passage of time. Praise for Sundown, Yellow Moon "Watson succeeds impressively, especially in deepening our understanding of first love."-Alan Cheuse, Chicago Tribune "A marvelous evocation of a time and place and of high school existence when it was considerably less ferocious than it is today . . . Sundown, Yellow Moon] twitches aside the curtain to reveal the menace and mendacity lurking behind placid and mundane lives."-Minneapolis Star Tribune " An] oddly heartbreaking story: allowed to run amok, the past becomes a monster capable of devouring the present."-Booklist "Larry Watson takes the less-traveled roads, through landscapes and heartscapes vaguely familiar, intensely poetic and always jangling. . . . He has established himself as one of the leading poetic realists, painting his stories across the canvas of interiors: small-town America and the human heart."-San Jose Mercury News, on Orchard

From the bestselling author of Montana 1948 comes the explosive story of an artist, his muse, and the staggering price they pay for their chance at immortality. Sonja Skordahl, a Norwegian immigrant, came to America looking for a new life. Instead, she settled in Door County, Wisconsin, and married Henry House--only to find herself defined by her roles as wife and mother. Destiny lands Sonja in the studio of Ned Weaver, an internationally acclaimed painter. There she becomes more than his model and more than a mere object of desire; she becomes the most inspiring muse Ned has ever known, much to the chagrin of the artist's wife. When both Ned and Henry insist on possessing Sonja, their jealousies threaten to erupt into violence--as she struggles to appease both men without sacrificing her hard-won sense of self.

A powerful voice in contemporary American fiction, Larry Watson is the award-winning author of Montana 1948, hailed as "a work of art" (San Francisco Chronicle), and White Crosses, praised as "one of the most irresistible novels of the year" (The Globe and Mail). In this, his debut novel, Watson explores the themes that established him as a master protrayer of small-town America. Another female student has been found strangled—the body count is up to three, and everyone suspects there will be more. But for Peter, a reticent teacher at Minnesota's Wanekia High School, his own morbid fascination with the murders haunts him more than the morning headlines. Keeping a detailed journal of his community's action—and his own—Peter discovers a disturbing ambivalence toward violence in the midst of uncommonly savage acts. A taut suspense novel that is at once compelling and thought-provoking, In a Dark Time ingeniously explores our culture's complex relationship with violence—and paints a vivid portrait of America too often color-blind to the bloody hues that tinge its landscape.

Larry Watson's previous fiction evoking contemporary Western small-town life has won him awards, a dedicated readership, and unqualified critical praise. Now he has written a novel that envelops the rich emotional terrain of his beloved Montana in a mystery that is both unexpected and unforgettable. After a nighttime accident at the bottom of Sprull Hill in Bentrock, Sheriff Jack Nevelsen is compelled to try and protect a part of his hometown that even a hero would have trouble saving -- its innocence. For most everyone in the community would agree that June Moss, the quiet girl who had just graduated from high school, and Leo Bauer, the principal of Bentrock Elementary and a married man like Jack, had no business heading out of town together. As Jack sets out to unravel the mystery of their deaths, he begins to create a story to shield his town, a lie that will reverberate throughout an entire community, and into the shadows of his own heart.

In a captivating departure, Larry Watson, "a writer whose work is worthy of prizes" ("Los Angeles Times Book Review"), unveils a portrait of faith, obsession, and enduring love -- and a work of greater tenderness than anything he has yet written. "Laura" Love captures Paul Finley, in, of all places, his own bedroom -- literally waking him from his dreams. The night he discovers Laura Pettit standing at his windowsill, Paul is eleven years old, a boy naturally inclined toward seriousness, precociously adept at the art of watching the world without being watched. Laura is twenty-two, a fiercely passionate and independent poet already experiencing the first flickers of fame, a beautiful woman on the brink of seducing Paul's father. No matter; Paul is smitten. When she leaves him to rejoin the grown-ups' party downstairs, Laura issues Paul a wholly impossible command, one that will haunt and consume both of them for the rest of their lives: "Forget me." Laying bare the inner life of one man during the course of nearly four decades, Larry Watson delivers a riveting treatise on the excruciating power of love -- and two of the most remarkable characters in recent American literature. Infused with breathtaking pathos and delicate grace, "Laura" is an extraordinary triumph of the novelist's art.

The tragic tale of a Montana family ripped apart by scandal and murder: “a significant and elegant addition to the fiction of the American West” (Washington Post). In the summer of 1948, twelve-year-old David Hayden witnessed and experienced a series of cataclysmic events that would forever change the way he saw his family. The Haydens had been pillars of their small Montana town: David’s father was the town sheriff; his uncle Frank was a war hero and respected doctor. But the family’s solid foundation was suddenly shattered by a bombshell revelation. The Hayden’s Sioux housekeeper, Marie Little Soldier, tells them that Frank has been sexually assaulting his female Indian patients for years—and that she herself was his latest victim. As the tragic fallout unravels around David, he learns that truth is not what one believes it to be, that power is abused, and that sometimes one has to choose between loyalty and justice. Winner of the Milkweed National Fiction Prize

Esquire Top 9 Books of the Year Midwest Booksellers Choice Award Finalist Booklist Editor's Choice 2011 Best Book Publishers Weekly 20 Top Indie Sleeper Hits WBEZ Chicago Top 10 Books of 2011 We were exposed to these phenomena in order that we might learn something, but of course the lessons we learn are not always those we are taught ...So begins Matthew Garth's story of the fall of 1962, when the shooting of a young woman on Thanksgiving Day sets off a chain of unsettling events in Willow Falls, Minnesota. Matthew first sees Louisa Lindahl in Dr. Dunbar's home office, and at the time her bullet wound makes nearly as strong an impression as her unclothed body. Fueled over the following weeks by his feverish longing for this mysterious woman--as well as by a deep desire for the comfort and affluence that appears to surround the Dunbars--Matthew finds himself drawn into a series of confrontations he never expected, the results of which will change his life irrevocably and give lie to his version of the American dream. Immersive, heartbreaking, and richly evocative of time and place, this long-awaited new novel marks the return of a great American storyteller.

Larry Watson's bestselling novel Montana, 1948 was acclaimed as a "work of art" (Susan Petro, San Francisco Chronicle), a prize-winning evocation of a time, a place, and a family. Now Watson returns to Montana, 1948's vast landscape with a stunning prequel that illuminates the Hayden clan's early years and the circumstances that led to the events of Montana, 1948. With the precision of a master storyteller, Watson moves seamlessly among the strong and hard-bitten characters that make up the Hayden family, and in the process opens an evocative window on the very heart of the American West.

Now a Major Motion Picture from Focus Features, Starring Kevin Costner and Diane LaneThe celebrated author of Montana 1948 returns to the American West in this riveting tale of familial love and its unexpected consequences.Dalton, North Dakota. It's September 1951: years since George and Margaret Blackledge lost their son when he was thrown from a horse; months since his widow left with their only grandson and married another man. Margaret is resolved to find and retrieve her beloved grandson, while George, a retired sheriff, is none too eager to stir up trouble.Unable to sway his wife from her mission, George takes to the road with Margaret by his side, traveling through the Badlands to Montana. But when Margaret tries to bring little Jimmy home, the Blackledges find themselves entangled with the Weboy clan, who are determined not to give up the boy without a fight.Pitch-perfect, gutsy, unwavering, and both restrained and exquisite (Chicago Tribune), Larry Watson is at his storytelling finest in this unforgettable return to the American West.

Coming November 2020 as a Major Motion Picture from Focus Features, Starring Kevin Costner and Diane LaneThe celebrated author of Montana 1948 returns to the American West in this riveting tale of familial love and its unexpected consequences. Dalton, North Dakota. It's September 1951: years since George and Margaret Blackledge lost their son when he was thrown from a horse; months since his widow left with their only grandson and married another man. Margaret is resolved to find and retrieve her beloved grandson, while George, a retired sheriff, is none too eager to stir up trouble. Unable to sway his wife from her mission, George takes to the road with Margaret by his side, traveling through the Badlands to Montana. But when Margaret tries to bring little Jimmy home, the Blackledges find themselves entangled with the Weboy clan, who are determined not to give up the boy without a fight. Pitch-perfect, gutsy, unwavering, and "both restrained and exquisite" (Chicago Tribune), Larry Watson is at his storytelling finest in this unforgettable return to the American West.

Calvin Sidey is always ready to run, and it doesn't take much to set him in motion. As a young man, he ran from this block, from Gladstone, from Montana, from this country. From his family and the family business. He ran from sadness, and he ran from responsibility. If the gossip was true, he ran from the law.lt's 1963, and Calvin Sidey, one of the last of the old cowboys, has long ago left his family to live a life of self-reliance out on the prairie. He's been a mostly absentee father and grandfather until his estranged son asks him to stay with his grandchildren, Ann and Will, for a week while he and his wife are away. So Calvin agrees to return to the small town where he once was a mythic figure, to the very home he once abandoned.But trouble soon comes to the door when a boy's attentions to seventeen-year-old Ann become increasingly aggressive and a group of reckless kids portend danger for eleven-year-old Will. Calvin knows only one way to solve problems: the Old West way, in which scores are settled and ultimatums are issued and your gun is always loaded. And though he has a powerful effect on those around him - from the widowed neighbour who has fallen under his spell to Ann and Will, who see him as the man who brings a sudden and violent order to their lives - in the changing culture of the 1960s, Calvin isn't just a relic; he's a wild card, a danger to himself and those who love him.ln As Good as Gone, Larry Watson captures our longing for the Old West and its heroes, and he challenges our understanding of loyalty and justice. Both tough and tender, it is a stunning achievement.

From acclaimed novelist Larry Watson, a multigenerational story of the West told through the history of one woman trying to navigate life on her own terms. Edie--smart, self-assured, beautiful--always worked hard. She worked as a teller at a bank, she worked to save her first marriage, and later, she worked to raise her daughter even as her second marriage came apart. Really, Edie just wanted a good life, but everywhere she turned, her looks defined her. Two brothers fought over her. Her second husband became unreasonably possessive and jealous. Her daughter resented her. And now, as a grandmother, Edie finds herself harassed by a younger man. It's been a lifetime of proving that she is allowed to exist in her own sphere. The Lives of Edie Pritchard tells the story of one woman just trying to be herself, even as multiple men attempt to categorize and own her. Triumphant, engaging, and perceptive, Watson's novel examines a woman both aware of her physical power and constrained by it, and how perceptions of someone in a small town can shape her life through the decades.

"Characters so real they could walk off the page, virtuoso writing and up-all-night drama."— People From acclaimed novelist Larry Watson, a multigenerational story of the West told through the history of one woman trying to navigate life on her own terms. Edie—smart, self-assured, beautiful—always worked hard. She worked as a teller at a bank, she worked to save her first marriage, and later, she worked to raise her daughter even as her second marriage came apart. Really, Edie just wanted a good life, but everywhere she turned, her looks defined her. Two brothers fought over her. Her second husband became possessive and jealous. Her daughter resented her. And now, as a grandmother, Edie finds herself ha­rassed by a younger man. It’s been a lifetime of proving that she is allowed to exist in her own sphere. The Lives of Edie Pritchard tells the story of one woman just trying to be herself, even as multiple men attempt to categorize and own her. Triumphant, engaging, and perceptive, Watson’s novel examines a woman both aware of her power and constrained by it, and probes the way perceptions of someone in a small town can shape a life through the decades.