The Farmer's Daughter
Novellas
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The celebrated author of Legends of the Fall delivers "three novellas as dark as they are exuberant" and linked by the lyrics of Patsy Cline (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
The three stories in The Farmer's Daughter are as different as they are unforgettable. Written in the voice of a home-schooled fifteen-year-old girl in rural Montana, the title novella introduces an extraordinary character who must draw on her untapped strength and resilience when she encounters unexpected brutality. In another, Harrison's beloved recurring character Brown Dog, still looking for love, escapes from Canada back to the States on the tour bus of an Indian rock band called Thunderskins. And finally, a retired werewolf, misdiagnosed with a rare blood disorder brought on by the bite of a Mexican hummingbird, attempts to lead a normal life but is nevertheless plagued by hazy, feverish episodes of epic lust, physical appetite, athletic exertions, and outbursts of violence under the full moon.
The Farmer's Daughter is a memorable portrait of three decidedly unconventional American lives. With wit, poignancy, and an unbounded love for his characters, "Harrison shows he is still at the top of his game with these compressed gems. Taken together, they present another fine accomplishment in a storied career" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
"Readers with a fondness for Hemingway's Michigan stories or Cormac McCarthy's spare regional novels will also find these tales much to their liking. Highly recommended." —Donna Bettencourt, Library Journal (starred review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In three novellas as dark as they are exuberant, Harrison delivers protagonists who are smart, lusty in that classic Harrison fashion and linked by "The Last Word in Lonesome Is Me," a Patsy Cline song that appears throughout and could easily serve as the characters' theme song. The first novella recounts the story of Sarah, who is dragged to rural Montana by her neglectful parents and, at age 15, is the victim of a sexual assault that provides her with an undying thirst for revenge. The collection's second and strongest novella features a recurring Harrison character, Brown Dog, a half-Indian free spirit who cares for his ailing stepdaughter who is afflicted with fetal alcohol syndrome. (He also has sex a lot.) The final piece presents Samuel, who as a child traveling in Mexico contracted viruses that now cause werewolflike spells that render him a "permanent stranger." Harrison (Legends of the Fall) shows he is still at the top of his game with these compressed gems. Taken together, they present another fine accomplishment in a storied career.
