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Title details for A Million Heavens by John Brandon - Available

A Million Heavens

by John Brandon
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On the top floor of a small hospital, an unlikely piano prodigy lies in a coma, attended to by his gruff, helpless father. Outside the clinic, a motley vigil assembles beneath a reluctant New Mexico winter—strangers in search of answers, a brush with the mystical, or just an escape. To some the boy is a novelty, to others a religion. Just beyond this ragtag circle roams a disconsolate wolf on his nightly rounds, protecting and threatening, learning too much. And above them all, a would-be angel sits captive in a holding cell of the afterlife, finishing the work he began on earth, writing the songs that could free him. This unlikely assortment—a small-town mayor, a vengeful guitarist, all the unseen desert lives—unites to weave a persistently hopeful story of improbable communion.

Upon the release of John Brandon's last novel, Citrus County, the New York Times declared that he "joins the ranks of writers like Denis Johnson, Joy Williams, Mary Robison and Tom Drury." Now, with A Million Heavens, Brandon brings his deadpan humor and hard-won empathy to a new realm of gritty surrealism—a surprising and exciting turn from one of the best young novelists of our time.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 7, 2012

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781938073328

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781938073328
      • File size: 293 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 7, 2012
      Brandon explores strange territory in his third novel (after Citrus County), artfully braiding the narratives of several souls wandering the desert around Lofte, N.Mex. A college girl named Cecelia, who “felt off the grid, away from herself even,” begins hearing songs she suspects her dead band mate Reggie is sending from the great beyond. At night, she holds vigil with strangers beneath the hospital window of Soren, a young boy who, during his first piano lesson, had played an impromptu masterpiece heretofore unheard, and then had fallen into a sudden coma. His father sits patiently by his bed, awaiting his awakening. A wolf, hungry for knowledge and losing its instinct, slows his nightly rounds to listen beneath Cecelia’s window as she channels Reggie’s songs. Even in death, Reggie holds a vigil of sorts where musical instruments are provided, but reasons for his life and death are not. Though Brandon occasionally verges on cloying fabulism, he deftly renders a desert wilderness where human hearts are compelled to seek isolation from the pains of the world, but tend to find connectedness despite themselves. Agent: Amy Williams, McCormick & Williams.

    • Library Journal

      June 15, 2012

      Brandon (Citrus Country, Alabama) well deserves his role of indie literature's rising star. His southern drawl bleeds through into his sparse but lyrical prose, at times reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy; his plots pack a punch. His new novel is a bit of a departure from his crime fiction tendencies and forays quite literally into the great unknown. It is told in rounds by a wide cast of characters, from a wolf to the mayor of Lofte, the small town in New Mexico where the book is set. The dying town attracts numerous visitors when a local boy falls into a coma and a young musician with a cult following dies in a car accident. These two, as well as the other characters, find themselves inextricably connected. VERDICT Brandon is a master at spinning a yarn. Be prepared to stay up late with this one!--Kate Gray, New York

      Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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