Carolyn Chute

The School on Heart's Content Road Carolyn Chute

Publisher Marketing: Carolyn Chute has been heralded as a passionate voice of the underclass, earning comparisons to William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and Flannery O Connor. Now, Chute returns to the unforgettable town of Egypt, Maine, and delivers a rousing, politically charged portrait of another group of lives on the margins of our society. The School on Heart s Content Road begins with the story of Mickey Gammon, a fifteen-year-old dropout who has been evicted from home by his half-brother. Alone, Mickey is introduced to the secretive world of the Settlement and its leader, a man known to many as the The Prophet. A rural cooperative in alternative energy, farm produce, and local goods, the Settlement is demonized by the media as a compound of sin, and its true nature remains foreign to outsiders. It is at the Settlement where Mickey s life collides with that of another deserted child, six-year-old Jane a cunning, beautiful girl of mixed race, whose mother is in jail on trumped up drug charges. Secret Agent Jane prowls the Settlement in her heart-shaped sunglasses, imagining that her childish plans to bring down the community will reunite her with her mother. As they struggle to adjust to their new, complex surrogate family, Mickey and Jane witness the mounting unrest within the Settlement s ranks, which soon builds to a shocking and devastating crescendo. Vehement and poetic, The School on Heart s Content Road questions the nature of family, culture, and authority in an intensely diverse nation. It is an urgent plea from those who have been shoved to the fringes of society, but who refuse to be silenced." Review Citations: Time 10/16/2009 pg. 8 (EAN 9780802144157, Paperback) Audio File 02/01/2009 pg. 41 (EAN 9781423374572, Compact Disc) Audio File 02/01/2009 pg. 41 (EAN 9781423374565, Compact Disc) Library Journal Prepub Alert 07/15/2008 pg. 44 (EAN 9780871139870, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 09/08/2008 pg. 35 (EAN 9780871139870, Hardcover) Library Journal 10/01/2008 pg. 55 (EAN 9780871139870, Hardcover) Booklist 10/01/2008 pg. 26 (EAN 9780871139870, Hardcover) - *Starred Review Entertainment Weekly 11/07/2008 pg. 67 (EAN 9780871139870, Hardcover) New York Times Book Review 11/23/2008 pg. 11 (EAN 9780871139870, Hardcover) New York Times Book Review 11/30/2008 pg. 18 (EAN 9780871139870, Hardcover) NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/07/2008 pg. 10 (EAN 9780871139870, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2009 pg. 20 (EAN 9780871139870, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2010 pg. 102 (EAN 9780871139870, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2014 pg. 139 (EAN 9780871139870, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Chute, Carolyn Carolyn Chute is the author of The Beans of Egypt, Maine; Letourneau s Used Auto Parts; Snow Man; and Merry Men, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Thorton Wilder Fellowship. She currently lives in Maine with her husband. Contributor Bio:  Ericksen, Susan Susan Ericksen lives on the East Coast, where she performs on stage and on television. An Audie Award and "AudioFile" Earphones Award winner, she has recorded many audiobooks.