The Necessary Hunger
Page 41
"Revoyr has written a searing portrait of the all-too-recent past, of a place where change comes slowly and painfully, and of a girl just trying to find her own space in the world." —Wichita Eagle
"Wingshooters understands what many of us know from experience: that love and hate can spring from the same source, that bigotry can coexist in the hearts of people who have shown us the tenderest of love." —Hyphen magazine
"Nina Revoyr's young protagonist and her searing, skillfully told story are unforgettable. Don't miss it." —Marian Wright Edelman, President, Children's Defense Fund
"Nina Revoyr is one of my favorite writers. What I admire most is the compassion she shows for her often flawed characters. Wingshooters is a gem of a novel—filled with beautiful language, thoughtful observations on life, deep heartache, and determined acceptance." —Lisa See, author of Shanghai Girls
Michelle LeBeau, the child of a white American father and a Japanese mother, lives with her grandparents in Deerhorn, Wisconsin—a small town that had been entirely white before her arrival. Rejected and bullied, Michelle spends her time reading, avoiding fights, and roaming the countryside with her English springer spaniel, Brett. She idolizes her grandfather, Charlie LeBeau, an expert hunter and former minor league baseball player who is one of the town's most respected men. Charlie strongly disapproves of his son's marriage to Michelle's mother, but dotes on his only grandchild, whom he calls Mikey.
This fragile peace is threatened when the expansion of the local clinic leads to the arrival of the Garretts, a young black couple from Chicago. The Garretts' presence deeply upsets most of the residents of Deerhorn when Mr. Garrett makes a controversial accusation against one of the town leaders, who is also Charlie LeBeau's best friend.
In the tradition of To Kill a Mockingbird, A River Runs Through It, and Snow Falling on Cedars, Revoyr's new novel examines the effects of change on a small, isolated town, the strengths and limits of community, and the sometimes conflicting loyalties of family and justice. Set in the expansive countryside of Central Wisconsin, against the backdrop of Vietnam and the post–civil rights era, Wingshooters explores both connection and loss as well as the complex but enduring bonds of family.
Also available by Nina Revoyr: The Age of Dreaming
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The Age of Dreaming is available in paperback and e-book editions. Our print books are available from our website and in online and brick & mortar bookstores everywhere. The digital edition is available wherever e-books are sold.
Finalist, 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Top Five Books of 2008, The Advocate
Best Books of 2008, January Magazine
"Rare indeed is a novel this deeply pleasurable and significant." —Booklist (starred review)
"Reminiscent of Paul Auster's The Book of Illusions in its concoction of spurious Hollywood history and its star's filmography, but Revoyr is a more ingenuous writer than Auster, if not as daring and spectacular." —San Francisco Chronicle
"Fast-moving, riveting, unpredictable, and profound; highly recommended." —Library Journal
"Revoyr conveys in a lucid, precise and period appropriate prose . . . a pulse-quickening, deliciously ironic serving of Hollywood noir." —Kirkus Reviews
"It's an enormously satisfying novel." —Publishers Weekly
"[Nina Revoyr is] an empathetic chronicler of the dispossessed outsider in LA." —Los Angeles Times
"Quietly powerful . . . settles to a close as deftly and beautifully as a crane landing on quiet water." —LA Weekly
"Revoyr resurrects the old old Hollywood, from the time before talkies, and dreams it into existence once again." —Bookforum
"[Nina Revoyr] is fast becoming one of the city's finest chroniclers and mythmakers." —Los Angeles Magazine
"Five stars." —Time Out Chicago
"The Age of Dreaming is a brilliant and original novel about Hollywood in the days of silent films. The carefully restrained voice of its narrator, once a famous film star, recalls Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day—but in his past, it turns out, there was also passion, madness, and murder." —Alison Lurie, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Foreign Affairs
"This is a riveting, wise, and gorgeous novel—rich in the social nuances of LA's silent film era and profoundly moving, often heartbreaking, in its exploration of the rise and fall of human lives. Every emotion in this book feels true and fully earned." —Mary Yukari Waters, author of The Laws of Evening
Jun Nakayama was a silent film star in the early days of Hollywood, but by 1964, he finds himself living in complete obscurity—until a young writer, Nick Bellinger, tracks him down for an interview. When Bellinger reveals that he has written a screenplay with Nakayama in mind, Jun is intrigued by the possibility of returning to the big screen. But he begins to worry that someone might delve too deeply into the past, and uncover the events that led to the abrupt end of his career in 1922. These events include the changing social and racial tides in California—and the unsolved murder of his favorite director, Ashley Bennett Tyler.
The Age of Dreaming explores the history of Los Angeles, the heady beginnings of the movie industry, and the interplay of race and celebrity. It is part historical novel, part murder mystery, and part unrequited love story—all told through the voice of a forgotten star who must gradually come to terms with his past.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher.
Published by Akashic Books
©2019 by Nina Revoyr
Paperback ISBN-13: 978-1-61775-669-6
eISBN-13: 978-1-61775-682-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018931225
Original hardcover edition published in 1997 by Simon & Schuster
First Akashic Books printing
Akashic Books
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About Akashic Books
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Akashic Books is an award-winning independent company dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction by authors who are either ignored by the mainstream, or who have no interest in working within the ever-consolidating ranks of the major corporate publishers. Akashic Books hosts additional imprints, including Black Sheep for Young Readers, the Akashic Noir Series, the Akashic Drug Chronicles Series, Infamous Books, Kaylie Jones Books (curated by Kaylie Jones), Gracie Belle (curated by Ann Hood), the Edge of Sports (curated by David Zirin), Punk Planet Books, Dennis Cooper's Little House on the Bowery Series, Open Lens, Chris Abani's Black Goat Poetry Series, and AkashiClassics: Renegade Reprint Series.
Our books are available from our website and at online and brick & mortar bookstores everywhere.
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