The Sky Fisherman: A Novel

by Craig Lesley

Overview

With his third novel, Craig Lesley comes into his own as an important American writer. Combining the familial loyalties and betrayals of Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It with the dead-on perfect ear for western dialect and local ritual of Thomas McGuane's Northing but Blue Skies, he presents a story that is both fresh and powerful. Laced with the solace of the great outdoors and the spirituality of the Indians on the local reservation, The Sky Fisherman is set in a small town in the Northwest, where the interwoven currents of love, death, and a boy's coming of age flow swiftly below a surface life of hard work and confrontation with the forces of nature. The boy, Culver, his twice-married mother, and his charismatic uncle Jake are shadowed by the death of Culver's father in a fishing accident. When a suspicious fire destroys the town mill and three murders occur, Culver's world is engulfed by the dangers swirling around him.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547345703
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	319
Sales rank:	532,960
File size:	407 KB

About the Author

Craig Lesley's first two novels, Winterkill and River Song, established his reputation as one of the Northwest's most important writers. With The Sky Fisherman, he stakes his claim for a national reputation alongside Thomas McGuane, William Kit-tredge, and Ivan Doig. His academic credits include an M.A. in English from the University of Kansas and an M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has spent much of his life exploring the outdoors, including an eight-year stint with the Deschutes River Guide Service in Oregon.

Editorial Reviews

City boy though I am, I fell into Craig's Lesley's wonderfully told story as though it were my own. . . . It reminded me once again of just how welcome you can feel in the midst of a novel.” —Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio

“An accomplished book. Lesley's biblical, metaphoric invocations of fire and water are powerfully drawn . . . Unsentimental, vigorous and compassionate.” —Valerie Miner, The Boston Sunday Globe

“An exquisite novel that holds the voices of the river and its people in perfect balance. It is a story that stays with you and grows between silences. Mr. Lesley is an empathetic force in fiction.” —Terry Tempest Williams

“A complex and vivid and surprisingly funny book, a book I greatly admire.” —Robert Olen Butler

“An exquisitely delineated map of America. All of our history is encompassed in its pages. The author retells the ancient struggle between whites and Native Americans for cherished territory. And as in any great American novel, a young man comes to terms with his own flawed heritage.” —Carolyn See

“Craig Lesley leaves crimes unresolved in The Sky Fisherman and concentrates on something larger—the joy and tragedy of human endeavor. His well-defined characters pull us quickly into small-town life . . . and through them we discover another character, a wild river that runs through this wonderful novel like a great shudder.” —Barry Lopez

From the Publisher