Winterkill

Winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award

Winterkill is a moving and evocative novel of fathers and sons. Danny Kachiah is a contemporary Native American fighting to survive—personally, economically, socially, and so on. His father, Red Shirt, is dead; his wife, Loxie, has left him; and his career as a rodeo cowboy is flagging. But when Loxie dies in a car wreck, leaving him with his son, Jack, whom he hardly knows, Danny uses the magnificent stories of Red Shirt to guide him toward true fatherhood. Together, Danny and Jack build a new life amid the dreams of yesterday and the ruins of today's Northwestern reservations.

Praise

"Unforgettable . . . prose as clear as the morning air."—The Boston Globe

"What strikes me first about Craig Lesley's book is the astonishing compassion he extends to the characters that people this moving novel . . . An impressive debut."—Raymond Carver

"Profoundly lyrical . . . Lesley has a rare gift for evoking a timeless quality in a setting littered with modern icons . . . The honky-tonk glitter of the rodeo gives way to the mystical, sometimes brutal beauty of the wilderness."—The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

"Danny Kachiah remains a figure of complexity, struggling toward salvation . . . an everyman who could stand in for any one of us."—Los Angeles Times

"A beautiful picture of family love and loyalty in a society from which we've had few such pictures."—Reynolds Price

About the Author(s)

Craig Lesley

Craig Lesley is a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest. He has received the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award for both Winterkill and The Sky Fisherman, and is also the author of River Song and Storm Riders. He lives in Portland with his wife and two daughters.