
Bear County, Michigan
Stories
John Counts(Author)
Northwestern University Press
Published on 15. February 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
248 pages
978-0-8101-4801-7 (ISBN)
Description
Following desperate characters in desperate circumstances in the rural Midwest In these colorful, darkly comic stories, veteran journalist and crime reporter John Counts takes readers to an often-ignored part of the country: a fictional Great Lakes coastal town in northern Michigan defined by beauty and bleakness. The cast of characters in these connected stories ranges from addicts to backwoods misfits to ruined lumber families, all bound together by their desire to obtain something just out of reach. Big Frank breaks out of a rehab facility trying to outrun grief. The women in the village of Brotherhood grapple with sterility resulting from an environmental calamity. A local politician must convince her mother to leave a nudist colony. And in the final, sweeping story, a splinter group from the local tribe attempts to reclaim its ancestral land by force. The people of Bear County and their predicaments encompass the wildly original and yet totally ordinary truths about American life off the beaten track.
Reviews / Votes
"With a sharp eye for telling detail, John Counts takes a hard look at hard lives. Prepare to be intrigued and troubled."-Ellen Airgood, author of Tin Camp Road "Moving and inspiring, Bear County, Michigan is familiar and urgent in its telling as it recounts the struggles, complications, and wonder of the world outside our over-documented metropolis. This book demonstrates a complete and compelling understanding of character-driven storytelling and leaves the reader feeling as if they too are part of this wholly imagined, and yet viscerally real, world." -Joe Meno, author of Book of Extraordinary TragediesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Evanston
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 225 mm
Width: 151 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
354 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8101-4801-7 (9780810148017)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
John Counts is an award-winning journalist who has published fiction in the Chicago Reader and Printers Row. A Michigan native, he grew up trout fishing in the Northwoods and playing in punk bands. He lives in Whitmore Lake with his family and works as an editor at MLive.com.
Content
Big Frank
The Women of Brotherhood
The Skull House
Bonecutters
Lucy and the Bear
The Final Voyage
Lady of Comfort
Compensation
Rich Girl Blues
The Hermit and the Pickle Princess
The Nudists
The Standoff
The Women of Brotherhood
The Skull House
Bonecutters
Lucy and the Bear
The Final Voyage
Lady of Comfort
Compensation
Rich Girl Blues
The Hermit and the Pickle Princess
The Nudists
The Standoff