The Powers
A Novel
Published on 30. April 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
312 pages
978-0-8101-3147-7 (ISBN)
Description
1941 is a year of drama and spectacle for Americans. Joe DiMaggio's record-breaking hitting streak enlivens the summer, and winter begins with the shock and horror of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The news from Eu-rope is bleak, especially for the Jewish population. Joltin' Joe, possessing a sweet swing and range in center, also has another gift: he can see the future. And he sees dark times ahead.
In her inventive novel The Powers, Valerie Sayers, in both realistic and fantastic chapters, transports the reader to an age filled with giants: Dorothy Day and Walker Ev-ans appear beside DiMaggio. The problems they face, from Catholic antisemitism to the challenge of pacifism in the face of overwhelming evil, play out in very public media, among them the photography of Evans and the baseball of DiMaggio. At once magical and familiar, The Powers is a story of witness and moral responsibility that will, like Joe DiMaggio, find some unlikely fans.
In her inventive novel The Powers, Valerie Sayers, in both realistic and fantastic chapters, transports the reader to an age filled with giants: Dorothy Day and Walker Ev-ans appear beside DiMaggio. The problems they face, from Catholic antisemitism to the challenge of pacifism in the face of overwhelming evil, play out in very public media, among them the photography of Evans and the baseball of DiMaggio. At once magical and familiar, The Powers is a story of witness and moral responsibility that will, like Joe DiMaggio, find some unlikely fans.
Reviews / Votes
"She's smart and irreverent, but she's also kind and compas-sionate; she gives us imperfect people and makes us like and care about them, an essential task for any novelist but one accomplished by surprisingly few."-Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Evanston
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
throughout
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
408 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8101-3147-7 (9780810131477)
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
Valerie Sayers is a professor of English at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Born and raised in Beaufort, South Carolina, which became the thinly disguised Due East of her fiction, she lived in New York for many years. Her literary awards include a Pushcart Prize for fiction and a National Endowment for the Arts literature fellowship.