2017, ISBN: 9781416517030

Windmill Books. Good. 5.31 x 0.67 x 8.5 inches. Paperback. 2015. 216 pages. Cover creased.<br>A debut novel already praised as unb earably poignant and beautifully told (Eimear McBr… Plus…

Windmill Books. Good. 5.31 x 0.67 x 8.5 inches. Paperback. 2015. 216 pages. Cover creased.<br>A debut novel already praised as unb earably poignant and beautifully told (Eimear McBride) this capti vating story follows -- over the course of four seasons -- a misf it man who adopts a misfit dog. It is springtime, and two outcas ts -- a man ignored, even shunned by his village, and the one-eye d dog he takes into his quiet, tightly shuttered life -- find eac h other, by accident or fate, and forge an unlikely connection. A s their friendship grows, their small, seaside town suddenly take s note of them, falsely perceiving menace where there is only mis hap; the unlikely duo must take to the road. Gorgeously written i n poetic and mesmerizing prose, Spill Simmer Falter Wither has al ready garnered wild support in its native Ireland, where the Iris h Times pointed to Baume's astonishing power with language and pr aised it as a novel bursting with brio, braggadocio and bite. It is also a moving depiction of how -- over the four seasons echoed in the title -- a relationship between fellow damaged creatures can bring them both comfort. One of those rare stories that utter ly, completely imagines its way into a life most of us would neve r see, it transforms us not only in our understanding of the worl d, but also of ourselves. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Wee kly A solitary misfit opens up to his one-eyed dog in this debut novel. Ray describes himself as old (he's 57), shabbily dressed, and sketchily bearded, pitching and clomping when he walks. He fi rst sees the dog in an animal shelter advertisement: a grisly pho to of a mangled canine face. The kennel keeper says the dog attac ks other dogs; its scars suggest it was used for badger hunting. Ray is familiar with abuse: his father, understanding Ray is not right-minded, raised him in confined isolation. Ray reads, drives , and knows he's not a regular person. Following his father's dea th, he remains in his father's house alone until he adopts the do g he calls One Eye. When One Eye attacks another dog, incurring t he owner's wrath, Ray takes One Eye on the road, traveling from o ne Irish village to another, sleeping in the car. By the time the y return home, they have spent a year together, and their friends hip is fixed. Baume's storytelling can be indirect. She never men tions Ray's name, only that he's named for a sunbeam or a sand sh ark. Nor does she specify Ray's impairment. As a narrator, he sho ws observation skills, appreciation for landscape, and awareness of fear and sadness. For One Eye, he's full of empathy. Baume's d ebut is notable for its rhythmic language, sensory imagery (espec ially visuals and smells), and second-person narrative directed a t an animal. She is brutal detailing brutality, lyrical contempla ting land and sea, and at her best evoking the connection between man and dog. (Mar.) --This text refers to an out of print or una vailable edition of this title. Review Winner of the Rooney Priz e for Irish Literature for 2015 Winner of theSunday Independent N ewcomer of the Year Award (Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards 201 5) Winner of the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize? Finalist for the LA Times Book Prize--Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction Short -listed for the Costa First Novel Award Long-listed for the Desmo nd Elliott Prize Long-listed for The Guardian First Book Award 2 015, A Readers' Choice Long-listed for the Warwick Prize for Writ ing 2015 Long-listed for 2015 Edinburgh First Novel Award ?Nomina ted for the International Dublin Literary Award 2017 One of NPR's Best Books of 2016 One of the Wall Street Journal's Best Books o f 2016 Barnes & Noble Spring 2016 Discover Great New Writers Mar ch 2016 Indie Next Pick 2016 Winter/Spring Indies Introduce Pick A tour de force.... No writer since JM Coetzee or Cormac McCarth y has written about an animal with such intensity. This is a nove l bursting with brio, braggadocio and bite. Again and again it wo ws you with its ambition...At its heart is a touching and inspiri ting sense of empathy, that rarest but most human of traits. Boun daries melt, other hearts become knowable...This book is a stunni ng and wonderful achievement by a writer touched by greatness.--J oseph O'Connor, for The Irish Times This book is like a flame in daylight: beautiful and unexpected. It packs a big effect for so mething that seems so slight, and almost hard to see.--Anne Enrig ht Unbearably poignant and beautifully told.--Eimear McBride, au thor of A Girl is a Half-formed Thing For language that sounds l ike music, there's Sara Baume's Spill Simmer Falter Wither, about a lonely Irish outcast and his one-eyed rescue dog.--Anne Tyler, New York Times Book Review, The Year in Reading A deeply attune d portrait of the human mind...An unsettling literary surprise of the best sort. This first novel's voice is singular in its humil ity and imaginative range...Baume's novel revels in aesthetic lea ps and dives, embracing the poetry of sensory experience in all i ts baffling beauty from the title onward...Baume's prose makes su re we look and listen. Her book insists we take notice.--The Atla ntic [Baume] has a way with words...As you sink into the rhythms of Baume's prose, you can almost smell the salt air and feel the sting of a small town that can be unforgiving to those who are d ifferent.--NPR, Best Books of 2016 Lonely man adopts unloved dog and both their lives are changed: You've heard this story before , but you've never seen it described with such transfiguring beau ty and intensity. Sara Baume does with language what the dog does for her wayward loner of a hero: She makes the world appear new. --Wall Street Journal, The 20 Books That Defined Our Year - The B est Fiction and Nonfiction of 2016 Extraordinary . . . Spill Sim mer Falter Wither is a heartbreaking read, and heralds Baume as a major new talent. --Independent on Sunday A deft and moving deb ut...To capture this constrained setting and quiet character requ ires specific skills, which Baume has in spades...It's not easy t o tell such a sparse tale, to be so economic with story, but the book hums with its own distinctiveness, presenting in singing pro se an unforgettable landscape peopled by two unlikely Beckettian wanderers, where hope is not yet lost.--The Guardian A man-and-h is-dog story like no other.--San Francisco Chronicle, Recommendat ions from Book Passage [A] lovely book...destined to become a sm all classic of animal communion literature.--Wall Street Journal Captivating...Rich with incident and gorgeously depicted through Baume's precise, lapidary prose...[Baume] displays wisdom beyond her years in this compassionate tale.--BookPage [Baume's] rhyth mic, intimate prose abounds with startling sights, smells and sou nds...[Her] sympathy for her 'wonkety' characters is infectious a nd their relationship - in all its drama and ordinariness - beaut ifully conveyed. Places and smells, plants and animals are conjur ed with loving attention, the narrative propelled by a striking l inguistic intensity...Baume's capacity for wonder turns this port rait of an unusual friendship into a powerful meditation on human ity.--New Statesman Sara Baume is a novelist to watch.--Daily Ma il Ambitious and impressive . . . Baume's engaging, intriguing a nd brightly original first novel may mark a comparably significan t debut.--Times Literary Supplement Told in splendid prose, with lyrical descriptions of the landscape, it's an involving story a nd possibly the best first novel to emerge from Ireland since Eim ear McBride's debut.--The Herald UK One of the most quietly deva stating books of the year...With Spill Simmer Falter Wither she h as created a dark, tender portrait of what it's like to live life on the margins.--Sydney Morning Herald [A] joltingly original d ebut ... Baume charts the growing dependency between these two st ray souls with remarkable deftness and almost unbearable poignanc y.--Mail on Sunday UK Sara Baume's exquisite debut has a simple plot: an outcast man and his dog One Eye take to the road in a ra mshackle car and watch the world, weather and seasons change as t hey drive through the highways and byways of Ireland. But the pro se is full of wonder, inventive, poetic and dazzling, concerned w ith the smallest detail of the natural landscape and the terrain of human emotion, as Baume heartbreakingly describes how an ordin ary life can falter and stall.--Sunday Express UK, The best books about memories, misfits and mysteries [A] fine debut...Baume su cceeds in reawakening her reader's capacity for wonder...so much so that the book and its one-eyed dog became companions I was loa the to leave.--Observer (The Guardian) A mesmerising debut.--Te legraph, Featured at #8 in the Autumn Arts Preview Every so ofte n a book comes along that is so perfect it takes your breath away , and leaves your heart hammering with the beauty of the writing and the sadness of the story. Sara Baume's debut, Spill Simmer Fa lter Wither, is such a book...Baume's prose is full of wonder - i nventive, poetic and dazzling, concerned with the smallest detail s of the natural landscape and the terrains of human emotion. Abs olutely astounding.--Psychologies, Book of the Month A vivid deb ut that shows that Baume is a talent to keep an eye on...a sweepi ngly poetic and heartbreaking meditation on life after grief that I won't quickly forget.--Times Educational Supplement An import ant and quite brilliant new Irish writing talent.--Irish Independ ent An ambitious stylist with an astonishing eye for detail and a clear passion for language. But it is the beautifully measured control of plot and the authenticity of the narrative voice that most impresses.--Irish Examiner A subtle and powerful story abou t a man and his dog ... Baume is in terrific control of her prose ... her portrayal of her characters and her setting leap off the page ... I look forward to whatever she writes next.--Big Issue UK A touching tale about a misfit man finding a misfit dog provi des lots of opportunity for exploring what it is to be lonely and outcast, what friendship means, the nature of family.--Western M orning News (UK), Best books to curl up with A quietly wonderful book.--Good Housekeeping UK In a relentlessly inventive languag e that, it seems, can maneuver anywhere and describe anything, Ba ume's story of a man and his dog examines and elegizes the myriad strange, ramshackle, and ephemeral worlds locked deep inside the world. An exceptional, startling, and original book.--Colin Barr ett, author of Young Skins Powerful, heartbreaking, told with gr eat control. The writing is superb . . . I had an image of all la nguage standing to attention, eager to serve this writer. --Mary Costello, author of Academy Street Touching and weird and someti mes comical and sometimes heartbreaking...Sad, Solid, Fragile, Wi tty.--Kjersti Skomsvold, author of The Faster I Walk, the Smaller I Am Elegant, heartbreaking, and inspiring. . . The lyric, lilt ing style of Baume's voice will endear even animal non-lovers to her thrilling and transformative story. With echoes of Mark Haddo n's narrative style and a healthy dose of empathy for the lost an d lonely among us, Spill Simmer Falter Wither is a superlative fi rst novel.--Booklist, starred review The second novel by the awa rd-winning author of Spill Simmer Falter Wither is as tender and luminous as her debut.--Mail on Sunday Baume's sophomore effort is a masterclass in the power of prose . . . A brilliant work tha t will likely resonate with anyone who's ever felt a little lost in their twenties and beyond.--The Herald This tour-de-force fol low-up to Spill Simmer Falter Wither is a celebration of the extr aordinary in the everyday, and Baume's prose elevates the ordinar y and finds inspiration in the strange.--Irish Times This is an extraordinarily compelling novel in which nothing really happens but everything changes ... What makes it so gripping is that the reader is trapped in Frankie's mind as much as she is; every tiny detail is magnified into metaphysical significance that she cann ot understand and that the reader cannot parse ... Almost every p age has a sentence or an observation that made me wish I had a co mmonplace book to transcribe Frankie's - or Baume's - precisely o paque and fleeting thoughts.--Spectator [Baume's] vivid apprehen sion of the natural world connects to her appreciation of artwork s and her mapping of the psyche, a sensibility that puts her in c ompany with writers such as Melissa Harrison, Helen Macdonald and Olivia Laing ... [A Line Made by Walking is] a piece of raw inve ntion.--Guardian Baume's mixing of the visual arts and fiction is as satisfying as Ali Smith's ... [A Line Made by Walking] is, beautifully, about finding accommodation with the ordinary ... [B aume] deserves to feel wholly satisfied with this raw-nerved and wonderful novel.--New Statesman Baume has once again proven that even the smallest lives can unveil the biggest truths ... A Line Made by Walking may be a very sad, very quiet book, but it is an inexplicably powerful work of art.--Irish Independent --This tex t refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. About the Author Sara Baume studied fine art before earning a M aster's in Creative Writing. Her short fiction has appeared in th e The Moth, The Stinging Fly, the Irish Independent, and others. She won the 2014 Davy Byrnes Short Story Award and the 2015 Henne ssy New Irish Writing Award. She lives in Cork with her two dogs. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From the Inside Flap Extraordinary ... A heartbreaki ng read, and heralds Baume as a major new talent. Independent on Sunday It is springtime, and two outcasts a man invisible to his village and the one-eyed dog he takes into his quiet, tightly sh uttered life find each other, by accident or fate, and forge an u nlikely connection. Over the four seasons echoed in the title, Ra y opens up to One-Eye, telling him the stories of his life. Then their small seaside town suddenly takes note of them, falsely per ceiving menace where there is only mishap. The unlikely duo must take to the road. Gorgeously written in poetic, mesmerizing pros e, Spill Simmer Falter Witherhas garnered wild support in its nat ive Ireland, where the Irish Times pointed to Baume s astonishing power with language and praised it as a novel bursting with brio , braggadocio, and bite. A moving depiction of how a relationsh ip between fellow injured cr, Windmill Books, 2015, 2.5, Pocket Books. Fine. A string of unique bestsellers (24 Hours, etc.) is testament to Iles's abil ity to leap genres and geography. His latest, a gripping legal mystery set in Natchez, Miss., proves he doesn't have to stray far from home to explore the darkest recesses of the human heart. Penn Cagelawyer, author and prot agonist of The Quiet Gamehas just learned that his best friend, Dr. Andrew Elliott, was the secret lover of 17-year-old Kate Townsend, a high school senior found raped and murdered. "Drew was our golden boy, a paragon of eve rything small-town America holds to be noble, and by unwritten law the town will crucify him with a hatred equal to their betrayed love." Though Penn is furious with Drew for his relationship with Kate, he signs on to represe nt him in court and unearth the real murderer. Things look bleak for Drew a s a DA with political aspirations comes up with plenty of evidence against him. When people start to die and the secret lives of the town's high schoo l students are revealed, Penn begins to doubt not only Drew, but himself as well. This is a study of character and morality, but also of place, as Ile s shows Natchez to be emblematic of racial, social and economic issues. The job of great fiction is to entertain, elucidate and educate while keeping readers nailed to their chairs; this does all of that brilliantly., Pocket Books, 5<

ISBN: 9781416517030

Pocket Books. Fine. A string of unique bestsellers (24 Hours, etc.) is testament to Iles's abil ity to leap genres and geography. His latest, a gripping legal mystery set in Natchez, Mi… Plus…

Pocket Books. Fine. A string of unique bestsellers (24 Hours, etc.) is testament to Iles's abil ity to leap genres and geography. His latest, a gripping legal mystery set in Natchez, Miss., proves he doesn't have to stray far from home to explore the darkest recesses of the human heart. Penn Cagelawyer, author and prot agonist of The Quiet Gamehas just learned that his best friend, Dr. Andrew Elliott, was the secret lover of 17-year-old Kate Townsend, a high school senior found raped and murdered. "Drew was our golden boy, a paragon of eve rything small-town America holds to be noble, and by unwritten law the town will crucify him with a hatred equal to their betrayed love." Though Penn is furious with Drew for his relationship with Kate, he signs on to represe nt him in court and unearth the real murderer. Things look bleak for Drew a s a DA with political aspirations comes up with plenty of evidence against him. When people start to die and the secret lives of the town's high schoo l students are revealed, Penn begins to doubt not only Drew, but himself as well. This is a study of character and morality, but also of place, as Ile s shows Natchez to be emblematic of racial, social and economic issues. The job of great fiction is to entertain, elucidate and educate while keeping readers nailed to their chairs; this does all of that brilliantly., Pocket Books, 5<