The Country Paperback by David Plante

Product Details

• Publisher: Beacon Press (2004-12-08)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 168 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780807083796
• Item Weight: 181.44 grams
• Dimensions: 21.46 x 13.84 x 1.02 cm

First published in 1981 to wide acclaim, a haunting family novel by'a daringly skillful writer.' (Philip Roth)

Foreword by Mary Gordon

First published in 1981 to wide acclaim, The Countryfollows the last visits of a son, Daniel Francoeur, to his parents' home before the death of his father. Wanting to understand this enigmatic man, Daniel seeks insight through the particulars of his father's life-handling his father's tools and tending to his father's feeble body. Through this contact, his father's mysteries are revealed: his Native-American heritage, his lifelong work as a toolmaker, and his deep and conflicted relationships with his invalid wife and his seven sons.

Written quietly, with great force, The Country illuminates the ties of family, the relationships between fathers and sons, and the love that is often hidden, but ever present.

About the Author

David Plante is the author of more than a dozen novels, including the Francoeur trilogy-The Family, The Woods, and The Country-as well as a work of nonfiction, Difficult Women: A Memoir of Three. His work has appeared in many periodicals, The New Yorker and The Paris Review among them, and has been nominated for a National Book Award. He teaches writing at Columbia University and lives in New York and London.