Plainsong
Kent Haruf
304 pages
Synopsis
Set in Kent Haruf's fictional landscape of Holt County, Colorado, Plainsong is a story of simple lives told with extraordinary empathy. Tom Guthrie is struggling to bring up his two young sons alone. In the same town, school girl Victoria Roubideaux finds herself pregnant and homeless. Whilst Tom’s sons find their way forward without their mother, quiet and gentle Harold and Raymond McPheron agree to take Victoria in, unaware that their lives are about to change forever.
A novel of haunting beauty from one of America's greatest writers of our time, Plainsong explores the grace and hope of every human life and mankind’s infinite capacity for love.
Perfectly formed, beautifully executed.Mariella Frostrup
Beautifully crafted, alive and quietly magnificent. I read it in one mesmerising sitting. I had no choice; it wouldn't let me go.Roddy Doyle
Plainsong is nothing short of a revelation. I don't expect to read a better novel this year. Or next, for that matter.Richard Russo