Staff Pick
Stephen Markley’s remarkable debut novel, Ohio, is a Rust Belt tale of longing and loss, desperation and despair. With empathy and compassion, Markley chronicles the bottoming out of the so-called American Dream. It's a painful (yet beautifully written) story for our current age of widespread anxiety and anguish. Recommended By Jeremy G., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
"Extraordinary...beautifully precise...[an] earnestly ambitious debut." The New York Times Book Review
"A wild, angry, and devastating masterpiece of a book." NPR
"[A] descendent of the Dickensian 'social novel' by way of Jonathan Franzen: epic fiction that lays bare contemporary culture clashes, showing us who we are and how we got here." O, The Oprah Magazine
One sweltering night in 2013, four former high school classmates converge on their hometown in northeastern Ohio.
There's Bill Ashcraft, a passionate, drug-abusing young activist whose flailing ambitions have taken him from Cambodia to Zuccotti Park to post-BP New Orleans, and now back home with a mysterious package strapped to the undercarriage of his truck; Stacey Moore, a doctoral candidate reluctantly confronting her family and the mother of her best friend and first love, whose disappearance spurs the mystery at the heart of the novel; Dan Eaton, a shy veteran of three tours in Iraq, home for a dinner date with the high school sweetheart he's tried desperately to forget; and the beautiful, fragile Tina Ross, whose rendezvous with the washed-up captain of the football team triggers the novel's shocking climax.
Set over the course of a single evening, Ohio toggles between the perspectives of these unforgettable characters as they unearth dark secrets, revisit old regrets and uncover — and compound — bitter betrayals. Before the evening is through, these narratives converge masterfully to reveal a mystery so dark and shocking it will take your breath away.
Review
"[A] standout debut...Markley's novel is alternately disturbing and gorgeous, providing a broad view of the anxieties of a post-9/11 Middle America and the complexities of the humans who navigate them." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Review
"A book of genuine substance and style...Markley's skill is apparent...Both a lament and a love letter, Ohio is a reminder of the wealth of stories hidden in small towns, and of how much 'history and pathos could accumulate in errant pockets on any given night.'" WALL STREET JOURNAL
Review
"Genuinely absorbing... Ohio burns with alienation, nihilism, frustration and finally love for a place that gave birth to all of them." WASHINGTON POST
Review
"Beautifully descriptive...an insightful, tragic story." BOOKLIST
About the Author
Stephen Markley is an author, screenwriter, and journalist. A graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop, Markley's previous books include the novel Ohio, the memoir Publish This Book The Unbelievable True Story of How I Wrote, Sold, and Published This Very Book, and the travelogue Tales of Iceland. He lives in Los Angeles.