| Woodsburner: Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Winner Contributor(s): Pipkin, John (Author) |
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ISBN: 0307455327 ISBN-13: 9780307455321 Publisher: Anchor Books OUR PRICE: $19.00 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 2010 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Literary - Fiction | Biographical - Fiction | Small Town & Rural |
| Dewey: FIC |
| Physical Information: 0.84" H x 5.32" W x 8.12" (0.62 lbs) 384 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - New England - Geographic Orientation - Massachusetts |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Set against the backdrop of a devastating forest fire that Henry David Thoreau accidentally set in 1844, John Pipkin's novel brilliantly illuminates the mind of the young philosopher at a formative moment in his life and in the life of the young nation. The Thoreau of Woodsburner is a lost soul, resigned to a career designing pencils for his father's factory while dreaming of better things. On the day of the fire, his path crosses those of three very different people, each of whom also harbors a secret dream. Oddmund Hus, a shy Norwegian farmhand, pines for the wife of his brutal employer. Eliot Calvert, a prosperous bookseller, is also a hilariously inept aspiring playwright. Caleb Dowdy preaches fire and brimstone to his followers through an opium haze. Each of their lives, like Thoreau's, will be changed forever by the fire. |