Synopses & Reviews
[A] moving novel about friendship, forgiveness, and mortality.” Nancy Pearl, NPRs Morning Edition Ron Carlson has always been a critics favorite, but Return to Oakpine shows the acclaimed writer at his finest. In this tender and nostalgic portrait of western American life, Carlson tells the story of four middle-aged friends who once played in a band while growing up together in small-town Wyoming. One of them, Jimmy Brand, left for New York City and became an admired novelist. Thirty years later in 1999, hes returned to die. Craig Ralston and Frank Gunderson never left Oakpine; Mason Kirby, a Denver lawyer, is back on family business. Jimmys arrival sends the other mens dreams and expectations, realized and deferred, whirling to the surface. And now that they are reunited, getting the band back together might be the most essential thing they ever do.
About the Author
Ron Carlson is the author of five story collections and four novels, most recently
The Signal. His fiction has appeared in
Harpers,
The New Yorker,
Playboy,
GQ,
Best American Short Stories, and
The O. Henry Prize Stories. He is the director of the writing program at the University of California at Irvine.