The Blue Hour
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the 2018 Colorado Book Award, "Pritchett writes with an evident love for the mountains and the people that call them home (Westword).
The residents of Blue Moon Mountain form a tight–knit community of those living off the land, stunned by the beauty and isolation all around them. So when, at the onset of winter, the town veterinarian commits a violent act, the repercussions of that tragedy are felt all across the mountainside, upending their lives and causing their paths to twist and collide in unexpected ways.
The housecleaner rediscovering her sexual appetite, the farrier who must take in his traumatized niece, the grocer and her daughter, the therapist and the teacher, reaching out to the world in new and surprising ways, and the ragged couple trapped in a cycle of addiction and violence. They will all rise and converge upon the blue hour—the l'heure bleu, a time of desire, lust, honesty—and learn to navigate the often confusing paths of mourning and love.
Writing with passion for rural lives and the natural world, Laura Pritchett, who has been called ""one of the most accomplished writers of the American West,"" graces the land of desire in vivid prose, exploring the lengths these characters—some of whom we've met in Pritchett's previous work—will traverse to protect their own.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The characters in Pritchett's new novel, a follow-up to Stars Go Blue, have poetic souls. On a particular morning, for example, one character tells her new lover, "You are Paralos to my Piraeus," then goes on to explain this dual reference. This example represents both a strength and occasional weakness in the book. Pritchett is boldly lyrical, whether she is writing about the eyes of archangels or the dawning of a new day, or especially the love lives of her diverse cast of characters, united in both a quest for love and a residence around the beautiful Blue Moon Mountain. But there also is a need to explain, which feels unnecessary and excessive. The narrative flows seamlessly from love story to love story, and Pritchett finds some texture by writing variously in first, second, and third person. There are Joe and Gretchen, "exploring the crevices and peaks of their desire"; scholarly Jess and veterinarian Ruben; a meth head named Dandelion, hopelessly in love with a rodeo rider; new couple Flannery and Di, skittishly deepening their relationship; also Sergio and Flora, and Zach and Dora, and a handful of others. In this elegant book, there's an appealing verisimilitude in the way the characters are variously, tentatively connected.