
Spoonwood
Ernest Hebert(Author)
Dartmouth College Press
Published on 3. August 2005
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-1-58465-490-2 (ISBN)
Description
Ernest Hebert's series of novels set in Darby. New Hampshire, has been hailed by the Boston Globe as "one of the most interesting accomplishments of contemporary American fiction...[a series] into which the texture of class is as skillfully woven as it is in Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County." After almost fifteen years, Hebert has returned to this rich literary landscape for a new novel of the changing economic and social character of New England. Hebert's previous Darby novel. "Live Free or Die", recounted the ill-fated love between Freddie Elman, son of the town trash collector, and Lilith Salmon, child of Upper Darby gentility. At its conclusion, Lilith died giving birth to their son. As Spoonwood opens, Freddie, consumed by grief and anger and struggling with alcoholism, is not prepared to be a father to Birth. But as both his family and Lilith's begin to maneuver for custody of the child, Freddie embarks on a course of action that satisfies none of them. Once again, Hebert masterfully conveys the natural and social landscape of contemporary rural New England. Grounded in complex, fully realized characters.
"Spoonwood" offers Hebert's most optimistic vision yet of acceptance and accommodation across class lines.
"Spoonwood" offers Hebert's most optimistic vision yet of acceptance and accommodation across class lines.
Reviews / Votes
"[A] vigorous saga... One is reminded of William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County or Robertson Davies' Deptford." - New York Times Book Review "[A] masterful series." - Entertainment Weekly"More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-58465-490-2 (9781584654902)
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
ERNEST HEBERT's most recent novel was the critically acclaimed The Old American, halled by Kirkus Reviews as "a brilliant work" and by Alan Cheuse on NPR as a "deeply appealing novel." His earlier Darby novels The Dogs of March, Live Free or Die, and The Kinship (a one-volume edition of A Little More Than Kin and The Passion of Estelle Jordan) are available in paperback from Hardscrabble Books. He is Professor of English at Dartmouth College.