Monday, March 4, 2013

Meet Our New VIB, And Its Author

 

From the beloved and best-selling author of Plainsong and Eventide comes a story of life and death, and the ties that bind, once again set out on the High Plains in Holt, Colorado.

When Dad Lewis is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he and his wife, Mary, must work together to make his final days as comfortable as possible. Their daughter, Lorraine, hastens back from Denver to help look after him; her devotion softens the bitter absence of their estranged son, Frank, but this cannot be willed away and remains a palpable presence for all three of them. Next door, a young girl named Alice moves in with her grandmother and contends with the painful memories that Dad's condition stirs up of her own mother's death.

Meanwhile, the town’s newly arrived preacher attempts to mend his strained relationships with his wife and teenaged son, a task that proves all the more challenging when he faces the disdain of his congregation after offering more than they are accustomed to getting on a Sunday morning. And throughout, an elderly widow and her middle-aged daughter do everything they can to ease the pain of their friends and neighbors.

Despite the travails that each of these families faces, together they form bonds strong enough to carry them through the most difficult of times.  Bracing, sad and deeply illuminating, Benediction captures the fullness of life by representing every stage of it, including its extinction, as well as the hopes and dreams that sustain us along the way. Here Kent Haruf gives us his most indelible portrait yet of this small town and reveals, with grace and insight, the compassion, the suffering and, above all, the humanity of its inhabitants.

Read an excerpt HERE. 

Cathy says:
"Holt, Colorado, a small town on the Eastern Plains is again the home for a cast of characters exquisitely rendered by the gifted novelist Kent Haruf. Dad Lewis is dying, and as he grows weaker his life story unfolds, one of hard work, heartbreak, grave errors and lasting love. Woven through are memorable characters: a minister and his family, new to Holt by way of Denver and struggling with crises of culture shock and faith, a young girl who recently lost her mother to cancer, an older mother and daughter living on the edge of town who host a most extraordinary ordinary afternoon gathering of women, and others, each deeply human and written with great respect for the human condition. Haruf's prose is as deliberate as poetry and is stunning in its power."



Every now and then we encounter a new book that we’re so excited about we want to shout it from the rooftops, so we've created a special tag to distinguish it from the rest: TC VIB (very impressive book)! That means it’s a true stand-out in a season of many excellent and compelling new books.

On Wed, March 6, 2013 at our Historic Lodo store, will be reading from and signing his book.

Free numbered tickets for a place in the booksigning line will be handed out at 6:30 pm. Seating for the presentation prior to the booksigning is limited, and available on a first-come, first-served basis to ticketed customers only.

Can’t make it to the signing? Request an autographed copy here: books@tatteredcover.com

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