Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
From debut author Shannon Bowring comes a novel of small town America that Pulitzer-winner Richard Russo calls, "measured, wise, and beautiful".
It's 1990, and the lives of the inhabitants of Dalton, Maine play on.
Rose goes to work at the diner every day, her bruises hidden from both the customers and her two young boys. At a table she waits, Dr. Richard Haskell looks back on the one choice that's charted his entire life, before his thoughts wander back to his wife, Trudy, and her best friend.
Trudy and Bev have been friends for longer than they can count, and something more than lovers to each other for some time now--a fact both accepted and ignored by their husbands. Across town, new mother Bridget lives with her high school sweetheart Nate, and is struggling with postpartum after a traumatic birth. And nearer still is teenager Greg, trying to define the complicated feelings he has about himself and his two close friends.
In most small towns, the private is also public. When one of Dalton's own makes an unthinkable decision, the community is left reeling. In the aftermath, their problems, both small and large, reveal a deeper understanding of the lives of their neighbors, and remind us that no one is exactly who you think they are.
The Road to Dalton offers valuable understandings of what it means to be alive in the world--of pain and joy, conflict and love, and the endurance that comes from living.
Synopsis
From debut author Shannon Bowring comes a novel of small town America that Pulitzer-winner Richard Russo calls, "measured, wise, and beautiful."
In most small towns, the private is also public. In the town of Dalton, one local makes an unthinkable decision that leaves the community reeling. In the aftermath, their problems, both small and large, reveal a deeper understanding of the lives of their neighbors, and remind us all that no one is exactly who we think they are.
It's 1990. In Dalton, Maine, life goes on. Rose goes to work at the diner every day, her bruises hidden from both the customers and her two young boys. At a table she waits, Dr. Richard Haskell looks back on the one choice that's charted his entire life, before his thoughts wander back to his wife, Trudy, and her best friend.
Trudy and Bev have been friends for longer than they can count, and something more than lovers to each other for some time now--a fact both accepted and ignored by their husbands. Across town, new mother Bridget lives with her high school sweetheart Nate, and is struggling with postpartum after a traumatic birth. And nearer still is teenager Greg, trying to define the complicated feelings he has about himself and his two close friends.
The Road to Dalton offers valuable understandings of what it means to be alive in the world--of pain and joy, conflict and love, and the endurance that comes from living.
Synopsis
"Bowring offers endless, rich details about life in Dalton, making a satisfying story of each chapter, expanding the emotional history of the place, yielding great depths of pain behind small, daily gestures of human connection...An impressive debut bursting with detail and love for the town it brings to life." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
A luminous new novel of small-town America, The Road to Dalton offers valuable understandings of what it means to be alive in the world: of pain and joy, conflict and love, and the endurance that comes from living.
In the final weeks of 1989, a fender-bender breaks the silence on an icy dark road outside Dalton, Maine, setting in motion events that will ripple throughout the town in ways no one can foresee. When the consequences of the accident play out, the community is left reeling-lives are left bare, and we are reminded that no one is precisely who we think they are.
"Readers will get swept away...and will wish that Bowring isn't done with Dalton and a sequel may be in the works. That's how powerful her writing is." Zachary Houle, Medium
"An auspicious debut. Shannon Bowring is operating in Richard Russo and Anne Tyler territory." Bill Wolfe, Read Her Like an Open Book
"The Road to Dalton locates the miraculous in the mundane, then holds it up, glimmering, for the reader to see." Ron Currie, Jr., author of Everything Matters
Synopsis
A NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
From debut author Shannon Bowring comes a novel of small town America that Pulitzer-winner Richard Russo calls, "measured, wise, and beautiful."
In most small towns, the private is also public. In the town of Dalton, one local makes an unthinkable decision that leaves the community reeling. In the aftermath, their problems, both small and large, reveal a deeper understanding of the lives of their neighbors, and remind us all that no one is exactly who we think they are.
It's 1990. In Dalton, Maine, life goes on. Rose goes to work at the diner every day, her bruises hidden from both the customers and her two young boys. At a table she waits, Dr. Richard Haskell looks back on the one choice that's charted his entire life, before his thoughts wander back to his wife, Trudy, and her best friend.
Trudy and Bev have been friends for longer than they can count, and something more than lovers to each other for some time now--a fact both accepted and ignored by their husbands. Across town, new mother Bridget lives with her high school sweetheart Nate, and is struggling with postpartum after a traumatic birth. And nearer still is teenager Greg, trying to define the complicated feelings he has about himself and his two close friends.
The Road to Dalton offers valuable understandings of what it means to be alive in the world--of pain and joy, conflict and love, and the endurance that comes from living.