The Sky Fisherman

"City boy though I am, I fell into Lesley's wonderfully told story as though it were my own . . . It reminded me once again of just how welcome you can feel in the midst of a novel."—Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio

"An accomplished book. Lesley's biblical, metaphoric invocations of fire and water are powerfully drawn . . . Unsentimental, vigorous, and compassionate."—Valerie Miner, The Boston Sunday Globe

"An exquisite novel that holds the voices of the river and its people in perfect balance. It is a story that stays with you and grows between silences. Mr. Lesley is an empathetic force in fiction."—Terry Tempest Williams

"A complex and vivid and surprisingly funny book, a book I greatly admire."—Robert Olen Butler

"An exquisitely delineated map of America. All of our history is encompassed in its pages. The author retells the ancient struggle between whites and Native Americans for cherished territory. And as in any great American novel, a young man comes to terms with his own flawed heritage."—Carolyn See

"Lesley leaves crimes unresolved in The Sky Fisherman and concentrates on something larger—the joy and tragedy of human endeavor. His well-defined characters pull us quickly into small-town life . . . and through them we discover another character, a wild river that runs through this wonderful novel like a great shudder."—Barry Lopez