Synopses & Reviews
From the acclaimed author of
Letter to My Daughter comes an engrossing coming-of-age tale that deftly conveys the hopes and heartaches of adolescence and the unfulfilled dreams that divide a family, played out against the backdrop of a small southern town in 1973.
For his fourteenth birthday, Alan Broussard, Jr., receives a telescope from his father, a science teacher at the local high school who’s eagerly awaiting what he promises will be the astronomical event of the century: the coming of Comet Kohoutek. For Alan Broussard, Sr. — frustrated in his job, remote from his family — the comet is a connection to his past and a bridge to his son, with whom he’s eager to share his love for the stars.
But the only celestial body Junior has any interest in is his captivating new neighbor and classmate, Gabriella Martello, whose bedroom sits within eyeshot of his telescope’s lens. Meanwhile, his mother, Lydia, sees the comet — and her husband’s obsession with it — as one more thing that keeps her from the bigger, brighter life she once imagined for herself far from the swampy environs of Terrebonne, Louisiana. With Kohoutek drawing ever closer, the family begins to crumble under the weight of expectations, until a startling turn of events will leave both father and son much less certain about the laws that govern their universe.
Illuminating and unforgettable, The Night of the Comet is a novel about the perils of growing up, the longing for connection, and the idea that love and redemption can be found among the stars.
Review
“A quiet, occasionally bittersweet novel about the differences between desire and disappointment, expectations and reality.” Booklist
Review
“Hilarious and heart-wrenching, ethereal and earthy, The Night of the Comet points us to the fragile universe of dreams and disappointments, joy and tragedy, saying here it is, all of it: feast your eyes on the magic. It’s a heavenly book. Nobody writes about the gravitational pull of parent-child relationships — all that we yearn for and all that we can’t have — like George Bishop.” Minrose Gwin, author of The Queen of Palmyra
Review
“Equally sweet and sad, this is a fine novel of love and forgiveness.” Stewart O'Nan, author of Snow Angels
Review
“Bishop’s one of our best, and this book’s a quiet marvel.” Josh Russell, author of Yellow Jack
Review
“A deft, clear-eyed, and sensitive examination of the mysterious bonds of family, the allure of the unattainable, and love and desire — and their consequences — in all their many forms.” Ellen Baker, author of I Gave My Heart to Know This
About the Author
George Bishop, Jr., is the author of Letter to My Daughter and The Night of the Comet. He earned an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where he won the Award of Excellence for a collection of stories. He has lived and taught in Slovakia, Turkey, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, India, and Japan. He now lives in New Orleans.