Mudbound
Page 26
“Fresh and unusual, and thought-provokingly sensitive.”—The Boston Globe
“Engrossing, expertly paced.” —People
AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-558-2
Breakfast with Buddha, a novel by Roland Merullo
When his sister tricks him into taking her guru, a crimson-robed monk, on a trip to their childhood home, otto Ringling, a confirmed skeptic, is not amused. Six days on the road with an enigmatic holy man who answers every question with a riddle is not what he’d planned. But along the way, otto is given the remarkable opportunity to see his world—and more important, his life—through someone else’s eyes.
“Enlightenment meets On the Road in this witty, insightful novel.”
—The Boston Sunday Globe
“A laugh-out-loud novel that’s both comical and wise . . . balancing irreverence with insight.” —The Louisville Courier-Journal
AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN 13: 978-1-56512-616-9
The Ghost at the Table, a novel by Suzanne Berne
When Frances arranges to host Thanksgiving at her idyllic New England farmhouse, she envisions a happy family reunion, one that will include her sister, Cynthia. But tension mounts between them as each struggles with a different version of the mysterious circumstances surrounding their mother’s death twenty-five years earlier.
“Wholly engaging, the perfect spark for launching a rich conversation around your own table.” —The Washington Post Book World
“A crash course in sibling rivalry.” —O: The Oprah Magazine
AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-579-7
Coal Black Horse, a novel by Robert olmstead
When Robey Childs’s mother has a premonition about her husband, who is away fighting in the Civil War, she sends her only son to find him and bring him home. At fourteen, Robey thinks he’s off on a great adventure. But it takes the gift of a powerful and noble coal black horse to show him how to undertake the most important journey of his life.
“A remarkable creation.” —Chicago Tribune
“Exciting . . . A grueling adventure.” —The New York Times Book Review
AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-601-5
Published by
ALGONQUIN BOOKS OF CHAPEL HILL
Post Office Box 2225
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225
a division of
WORKMAN PUBLISHING
225 Varick Street
New York, New York 10014
© 2008 by Hillary Jordan. All rights reserved.
First paperback edition, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, March 2009.
Originally published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in 2008.
This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
eISBN 978-1-56512-637-4
Praise for MUDBOUND
“A compelling family tragedy, a confluence of romantic attraction and racial hatred that eventually falls like an avalanche . . . The last third of the book is downright breathless.”
—The Washington Post Book World
“[A] supremely readable debut novel . . . Mudbound is packed with drama. Pick it up, then pass it on.”
—People, Critics Choice, 4-star review
“Mudbound argues for humanity and equality, while highlighting the effects of war . . . [The] mixture of the predictable and the unpredictable will keep readers turning the pages . . . It feels like a classic tragedy, whirling toward a climax. [An] ambitious first novel.”
—The Dallas Morning News
“By the end of the very short first chapter, I was completely hooked . . . [Mudbound is] so carefully considered and so full of weight . . . This is a book in which love and rage cohabit. This is a book that made me cry.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“[A] tremendous gift, a story that challenges the 1950s textbook version of our history and leaves its readers completely in the thrall of her characters . . . Mudbound may well become a staple of syllabi for courses in Southern literature.”
—Paste magazine, 4-star review
“Does an excellent job of capturing the impacts of racism both casual and deliberate.”
—The Denver Post
“[An] impressive first novel . . . Jordan is an author to watch.”
—Rocky Mountain News
“This is storytelling at the height of its powers: the ache of wrongs not yet made right, the fierce attendance of history made as real as rain, as true as this minute. Hillary Jordan writes with the force of a Delta storm. Her characters walked straight out of 1940s Mississippi and into the part of my brain where sympathy and anger and love reside, leaving my heart racing. They are with me still.”
—Barbara Kingsolver
“Is it too early to say, after just one book, that here’s a voice that will echo for years to come? . . . Jordan picks at the scabs of racial inequality that will perhaps never fully heal and brings just enough heartbreak to this intimate, universal tale, just enough suspense, to leave us contemplating how the lives and motives of these vivid characters might have been different.”
—San Antonio Express-News
“This book packs an emotional wallop that will engage adult and adolescent readers . . . The six narrators here have enough time and space to develop a complicated set of relationships. The fault lines among them converge into a crackling gunpoint confrontation, a stunning scene that ranks as my personal favorite of this year.”
—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Refusing to turn the page is not an option. Jordan is able to make her painful subject matter irresistible by putting the breath of life in these people.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Jordan has an uncanny knack for nailing the voices of characters she has no business knowing, but know them she does. Mudbound also reminds us of the sacrifices made by all soldiers, and how the home front isn’t always as appreciative as it should be.”
—MSNBC.com, Can’t Miss column
“Luminous . . . The power of Mudbound is that the characters speak directly to the reader. And they will stay with you long after you put the book down.”
—Jackson Free Press
“A page-turning read that conveys a serious message without preaching.”
—The Observer (U.K.)
“Mudbound dramatizes the human cost of unthinking hatred . . . That [she] makes a hopeful ending seem possible, after the violence and injustice that precede it, is a tribute to the novel’s voices . . . The characters live in the novel as individuals, black and white, which gives Mudbound its impact.”
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“If Hillary Jordan’s new book, Mudbound, is ever made into a movie, the odds are very good that it will end up on the short list for an Academy Award. Not just because of the quality of Jordan’s writing . . . but also because she tackles some of this country’s most enduring and well-trodden emotional and historical territory.”
—Albany Times Union
“The recognition [Jordan]’s received for the work has been nothing short of sparkling . . . Mudbound is as much a tale of racism as it is the transcending powers of love and friendship.”
—Austin American-Statesman
“Full of rich details and dimensional, engaging characters, and it sucks readers in like quicksand from its opening scene.”
—Creative Loafing, Atlanta
“[A] heart-re
nding debut novel . . . Jordan’s beautiful, haunting prose makes it a seductive page-turner.”
—DailyCandy
“A meticulous, moving narrative.”
—Texas Monthly
“Jordan has crafted a story that shines . . . A good historical novel with a twist of an ending.”
—The Oklahoman
“This is one of the most extraordinary novels I’ve read all year . . . Set against the pull of the land—and of the lonely heart—the ensuing tragedy is both inevitable and heart shattering.”
—Dame magazine
“Stunning and disturbing . . . A story of heroism, loyalty, respect and abiding love.”
—Rocky Mount Telegram
“No denying that readers in search of straightforward storytelling will be hooked.”
—Memphis Flyer
“Debut novelist Hillary Jordan has crafted an unforgettable tale of family loyalties, the spiraling after-effects of war and the unfathomable human behavior generated by racism.”
—BookPage
“[A] beautiful debut . . . A superbly rendered depiction of the fury and terror wrought by racism.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[A] poignant and moving debut novel . . . Jordan faultlessly portrays the values of the 1940s as she builds to a stunning conclusion. Highly recommended.”
—Library Journal, starred review
“Mudbound is a real page-turner—a tangle of history, tragedy, and romance powered by guilt, moral indignation, and a near chorus of unstoppable voices.”
—Stewart O’Nan, author of A Prayer for the Dying and Last Night at the Lobster