Ivory Shoals
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- $24.99
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
In the tradition of Mark Twain and Cormac McCarthy comes this distinctly American, pulse-quickening epic from the acclaimed author of Citrus County and Arkansas.
“I opened John Brandon's new novel and fell hard. An adventure full of grit and wonder, far-flung and yet uniquely, specifically American. I hope I never recover.”
—Daniel Handler, author of All The Dirty Parts, Bottle Grove, and Why We Broke Up
Twelve-year-old Gussie Dwyer—audacious, resilient, determined to adhere to the morals his mother instilled in him—undertakes to trek across the sumptuous yet perilous peninsula of post-Civil War Florida in search of his father, a man who has no idea of his son's existence. Gussie’s journey sees him cross paths with hardened Floridians of every stripe, from the brave and noble to a bevy of cutthroat villains, none worse than his amoral shark of a half brother. Will he survive his quest, and at what cost?
Rich in deadpan humor as well as visceral details that illuminate a diverse cast of characters, the novel uncovers deep truths about family and self-determination as the reader tracks Gussie’s dangerous odyssey out of childhood. Ivory Shoals is an unforgettable story from a contemporary master.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Brandon (Further Joy) takes readers on an invigorating jaunt through the Florida swamplands in a Civil War–era tale of virtue rewarded. After 12-year-old Gussie Dwyer's prostitute mother, Lavinia, dies in 1865, he sets out across Florida to find his father, an inventor named Madden Joseph Searle who doesn't know Gussie exists. He's aided by various kindhearted folks along the way but faces substantial challenges: a bounty hunter with a "genius for tracking and for cold-eyed violence" pursues Gussie because he stole from a saloon owner who refused to hand over Lavinia's earnings; dangerous thieves populate the "vast, smoldering, bested Confederacy"; the swampy landscape slows his progress; and Searle's reprobate son, Julius, is not keen on splitting his future inheritance with a newly discovered half brother. Brandon describes the "perilous and splendid" landscape with lyric restraint, though florid excesses occasionally emerge in the dialogue ("You remind me of somebody on a stage... The way you talk," says one woman after listening to an extended soliloquy). The same could be said for most of the novel's characters, especially the evil ones for whom pomposity and depravity go hand in hand. These mannered flourishes don't, however, detract from a clean, satisfying narrative. Brandon's fans will eat this up, and it should earn him some converts.
