A highly acclaimed collection of short stories set in the great outdoors of New England, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Shipping News' and 'Brokeback Mountain'.
Just outside town, beyond the drugstore and the diner, there's another world - a wilderness - waiting to be explored. On the high, wooded hillsides there are deer to be stalked; far upriver there are quiet pools of trout, and grouse to be shot and traplines to be laid for fur. In the far-flung settlements of New England, life revolves around hunting.
Whether they are yuppies from the town who think that country life is improving or natives who know all too well that it isn't, the men and women of these stories are all hunting for something better - though getting by at all is hard enough. These are men and women who live, love and lose; men and women who fall apart and who pick up the pieces, who dream useless dreams and go on dreaming whatever the disappointments.
Tough and tender and irresistibly humorous, this unforgettable book takes its reader on a trail through the great outdoors to the innermost places of the heart.
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[HAWKHEEL'S face was as finely wrinkled as grass-dried linen, his thin back bent like a branch weighted with snow (ON THE ANTLER)]***
(@4thEstateBooks, 23 February 2017, first published October 1998, 192 pages, e-book, bought from @AmazonKindle)
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I'm a fan of the author and have been since her incredible novel, The Shipping News broke my heart several years ago. None of her work has quite met the brilliance of this novel but I've enjoyed what I've read nevertheless. I really enjoy her short fiction. I didn't realise how short this collection was when I bought it. I was looking forward to getting stuck into a thick volume of her fantastic stories. Oh well, maybe next time. Proulx's trademarks can be found in these stories, harsh landscapes, heart hearts and harsh lives and bleakness with a dash of hope. I enjoyed every story but the best ones are Stone City, Heart Songs and Electric Arrows.
