Skip to main content
Trade Books For Courses Tradebooks for Courses

Burning Fence

A Western Memoir of Fatherhood

Craig Lesley

Picador

opens in a new window
opens in a new window Burning Fence Download image

ISBN10: 0312426259
ISBN13: 9780312426255

Trade Paperback

384 Pages

$28.00

CA$31.50

Request Desk Copy
Request Exam Copy

TRADE BOOKS FOR COURSES NEWSLETTER

Sign up to receive information about new books, author events, and special offers.

Sign up now

Burning Fence is the story of the men in Craig Lesley's family: absent father, Rudell, tough stepfather, Vern, adopted son, Wade, and Craig Lesley himself. Their story is one of hardship, violence, and cautious, heartbreaking attempts toward compassion. Lesley's fearless journey through his family history provides a portrait of hard living in the Western states.

Reviews

Praise for Burning Fence

"Burning Fence paints an indelible portrait of subsistence existence in the pre-Microsoft Northwest . . . Unforgettable."—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Vividly lyrical . . . Lesley brings his talents as a novelist—believable dialogue, compelling detail, well-developed personalities—to the page."—The Seattle Times

"It is as raw and real as a psychiatrist's couch—though infinitely more revealing and immensely entertaining."—News-Times (Newport, Oregon)

"I experienced Craig Lesley's Burning Fence as an addiction of sorts—everything else in my life got pushed off to the side so I could live in its pages. A seminal work of Western literature."—David Guterson, author of Snow Falling on Cedars

"Lesley has written an extraordinary memoir that speaks to the remarkable depth of his life experience. This is a splendid work, beautifully told and deeply moving."—Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

"This vivid, unflinching story of Lesley's own life, as a son and a father, can only serve to increase his already considerable stature as a writer—and, not incidentally, as a human being."—Kent Haruf, author of Plainsong

"Beyond the legends of the West and the fables of fatherhood, Craig Lesley's beautiful memoir comes forward with one man's personal truth. One of his bravest and truest works to date."—Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Crescent

"Craig Lesley is intimate with denied ambitions, the heartbreak of living poor and out of the loop in rural America, and the cracked humor with which the disenfranchised so often respond. If you want to understand what's going on in the backlands of our nation, begin by reading this."—William Kittredge, author of The Nature of Generosity

Reviews from Goodreads

About the author

Craig Lesley

Craig Lesley received the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award for The Sky Fisherman, Winterkill, and Talking Leaves. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Portland, Oregon, where he teaches at Portland State University.