Molly
Published on 4. January 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
184 pages
978-1-63768-002-5 (ISBN)
Description
A compelling story of characters enduring various hardships in rural New Mexico.
This debut novel tells the story of nine-year-old Raymond, nicknamed "Ray Moon" by Molly, his adoptive caretaker, a waitress, and the former partner of his recently deceased uncle. These two outcasts rely on one another for survival, and their bond forms the heart of this book. Living in a trailer atop a mesa in the high desert of New Mexico in 1968, Raymond ages quickly amid hostile circumstances. With the help of a keen imagination that Molly inspires, he navigates various forms of loss and exploitation amid enduring hardship.
Kevin Honold's deft and trance-like prose is interspersed with sharp insights and brings attention to the displacement of Native Americans, the hardships of capitalism, the ills of misogyny, and the raw hurt of living a displaced or marginalized life. This is a story of endurance, memory, and unceasing change.
Molly was selected by Dan Chaon as the winner of the 2020 Autumn House Fiction Prize.
This debut novel tells the story of nine-year-old Raymond, nicknamed "Ray Moon" by Molly, his adoptive caretaker, a waitress, and the former partner of his recently deceased uncle. These two outcasts rely on one another for survival, and their bond forms the heart of this book. Living in a trailer atop a mesa in the high desert of New Mexico in 1968, Raymond ages quickly amid hostile circumstances. With the help of a keen imagination that Molly inspires, he navigates various forms of loss and exploitation amid enduring hardship.
Kevin Honold's deft and trance-like prose is interspersed with sharp insights and brings attention to the displacement of Native Americans, the hardships of capitalism, the ills of misogyny, and the raw hurt of living a displaced or marginalized life. This is a story of endurance, memory, and unceasing change.
Molly was selected by Dan Chaon as the winner of the 2020 Autumn House Fiction Prize.
Reviews / Votes
"There is a particularly satisfying aptness when the beauties of the American Southwest inspire a beautiful book-which Molly is." * Wall Street Journal * "Honold, a high school teacher in Santa Fe, paints high-desert landscapes with hallucinatory strokes in this elliptical and wise novella." * New Mexico Magazine * "Molly is a wondrously strange and lyrical rural noir, with an almost phantasmagorical vividness in its New Mexico landscape and a tender and heartfelt sympathy for its marginal characters. Honold is a true original." -- Dan Chaon, author of Ill Will "Seasoned, somber writing." * Hudson Review *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Pittsburgh
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 213 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
240 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-63768-002-5 (9781637680025)
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
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Kevin Honold was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is currently a history and special education teacher in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is the author of Men as Trees Walking.