Introducing Our New VIB!

A gorgeous literary debut about unlikely heroes, lifelong promises, and last great adventures.
"Otto,
 
I’ve gone. I’ve never seen the water, so I’ve gone there. Don’t worry, I’ve left you the truck. I can walk. I will try to remember to come back.

Yours (always),

Etta"

Otto finds the note left by his wife in the kitchen of their farmhouse in windswept Saskatchewan. Eighty-three-year-old Etta will be walking 3,200 kilometers to see the ocean, but somehow, Otto understands. He took his own journey once before, to fight in a faraway land.

With Etta gone, Otto struggles with his demons of war, while their friend Russell initially pursues the woman he has loved from afar.

And James—well, James you have to meet on the page.

Moving from the hot and dry present of a quiet Canadian farm to a dusty, burnt past of hunger, war, and passion, from trying to remember to trying to forget, Etta and Otto and Russell and James is an astounding literary debut about friendship and love, hope and honor, and the romance of last—great—adventures.

Listen to Emma Hooper talking about her book on the BBC.

An Indies Introduce Debut Author Q&A With Emma Hooper
 

An Indies Introduce Debut Author Q&A With Emma Hooper - See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-debut-author-qa-emma-hooper#sthash.BwzjlELx.dpuf

Cathy says:
"This lovely, moving novel opens with 83 year old Etta heading east from her Saskatchewan farm, aiming to walk to the sea, which she has never seen. Left behind are her husband Otto and their neighbor and lifelong friend Russell. What would compel an elderly woman to make such a journey and how do Otto and Russell respond to her absence? (That sounds a high school English test question! Sorry!) 

As her journey and story unfolds a coyote named James keeps Etta company. Otto copes by baking from the recipes Etta left behind, missing her terribly and trying to ignore his failing health. Russell’s response is less passive. As she makes her way east we learn more about her complicated relationships with the two men, how circumstances that transpired during the Second World War determined the destiny that all three live with but with which they have perhaps never grown truly comfortable. 

Wry and quirky, a little bit magical and perfectly pitched, Etta and Otto and Russell and James is a truly marvelous debut." 

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.

An Indies Introduce Debut Author Q&A With Emma Hooper - See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-debut-author-qa-emma-hooper#sthash.BwzjlELx.dpuf

An Indies Introduce Debut Author Q&A With Emma Hooper - See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-debut-author-qa-emma-hooper#sthash.BwzjlELx.dpuf