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Staff Pick
In Groundskeeping, Lee Cole illuminates the building terror of living in America in 2016, the thrill of embarking on life as an artist, the tenderness of new love, the inevitable grief of aging and changing families. So rarely can an author balance all these concerns in a single book, and even more rarely is that book a debut novel. Recommended By Adam P., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
An indelible love story about two very different people navigating the entanglements of class and identity and coming of age in an America coming apart at the seams — this is an extraordinary debut about the ties that bind families together and tear them apart across generations (Ann Patchett, best-selling author of The Dutch House).
In the run-up to the 2016 election, Owen Callahan, an aspiring writer, moves back to Kentucky to live with his Trump-supporting uncle and grandfather. Eager to clean up his act after wasting time and potential in his early twenties, he takes a job as a groundskeeper at a small local college, in exchange for which he is permitted to take a writing course.
Here he meets Alma Hazdic, a writer in residence who seems to have everything that Owen lacks — a prestigious position, an Ivy League education, success as a writer. They begin a secret relationship, and as they grow closer, Alma — who comes from a liberal family of Bosnian immigrants — struggles to understand Owen's fraught relationship with family and home.
Exquisitely written; expertly crafted; dazzling in its precision, restraint, and depth of feeling, Groundskeeping is a novel of haunting power and grace from a prodigiously gifted young writer.
Review
"Cole's nimble debut combines elements of Southern fiction, the campus novel, and youthful romance… This is the strongest story about young writers in love since Andrew Martin's Early Work." Publishers Weekly
Review
"With brilliant descriptions of the rural South, Cole's slow burn of a debut novel achingly explores the definition of home, fate, and our shared humanity.” Poornima Apte, Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"Cole's novel is more than a love story or a coming-of-age tale. Written with superb attention to detail and subtle emotional complexities, the book also offers a lovingly nuanced look at America." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Review
“It's frankly preposterous this is a debut novel when Lee Cole's writing has such ease and authority and his storytelling rings so true.” Maggie Shipstead, author of Great Circle
Review
"An extraordinary debut about the ties that bind families together and tear them apart across generations — this is a fierce, tender, and wholly unforgettable work from a hugely gifted writer." Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House
Review
"Groundskeeping is filled with close observation, detailed shading. It is an absorbing love story, but it is also an examination of class in America, and it captures with sharp insight a moment in recent history." Colm Tóibín, author of Brooklyn
Synopsis
A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK - An indelible love story about two very different people navigating the entanglements of class and identity and coming of age in an America coming apart at the seams--this is an extraordinary debut about the ties that bind families together and tear them apart across generations (Ann Patchett, best-selling author of
The Dutch House).
In the run-up to the 2016 election, Owen Callahan, an aspiring writer, moves back to Kentucky to live with his Trump-supporting uncle and grandfather. Eager to clean up his act after wasting time and potential in his early twenties, he takes a job as a groundskeeper at a small local college, in exchange for which he is permitted to take a writing course.
Here he meets Alma Hazdic, a writer in residence who seems to have everything that Owen lacks--a prestigious position, an Ivy League education, success as a writer. They begin a secret relationship, and as they grow closer, Alma--who comes from a liberal family of Bosnian immigrants--struggles to understand Owen's fraught relationship with family and home.
Exquisitely written; expertly crafted; dazzling in its precision, restraint, and depth of feeling, Groundskeeping is a novel of haunting power and grace from a prodigiously gifted young writer.
About the Author
Lee Cole was born and grew up in rural Kentucky. A recent graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he now lives in New York.