The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne

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Description

Sometimes your ancestors breathe through you. Sometimes, they call for vengeance...Babs Dionne, doting grandmother, and vicious crime matriarch, rules her small town with an iron fist. She controls the flow of drugs with the help of her loyal lieutenants, girlfriends since they were teenagers, and her eldest daughter, Lori, a former soldier struggling with addiction.When a drug kingpin discovers that his numbers are down in this one town, he sends a malevolent force, known only as The Man, to investigate. At the same time, Babs's youngest daughter, Sis, has gone missing, which doesn't seem at all like a coincidence. In twenty-four hours, Sis will be found dead, and the whole town will seek shelter from Babs's wrath...The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne is a crime saga like no other, with a ferocious matriarch at its bruised, beating heart. With sharp wit and profound empathy, award-winning author Ron Currie, delivers an unforgettable novel exploring love, retribution, and the ancestral roots that both nurture and trap us.

Reviews

"Literary thrillers just don't come any better than Ron Currie's The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne. It's profoundly serious and terrifying in equal measure." -Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Somebody's Fool

"The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne is an ambitious novel that revolves around crime but that's really about class, prejudice, addiction, exploitation, war, trauma, loyalty, friendship, and above all about family. A remarkable achievement that's also a deeply enjoyable reading experience on every page." -Chris Pavone, author of Two Nights in Lisbon

"Ruthless, beautiful, cutthroat, gorgeous, poignant, incendiary, and important, The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne is simply one of the best novels I've read in years. It reveals the sharpest truths, the deepest cuts, and the toughest love. I am in awe." -Ivy Pochoda, author of Sing Her Down, winner of the LA Times book prize

"The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne reads like a French-Canadian The Godfather, with the toughest women this side of Carmela Soprano. Beautifully written, with a wonderfully rendered, authentic Maine setting that you won't find on a postcard, this is the rare novel of equal appeal to fans of Elizabeth Strout and Dennis Lehane." -Michael Koryta, New York Times-bestselling author of An Honest Man

"Currie [turns] to literary crime fiction with this funny series opener based on the lives of French Canadians in New England and starring an all-women criminal gang in their 60s." -Library Journal

"Currie's tale and his powerful writing are reminiscent of small-town sagas by Richard Russo, and are peopled by the same kinds of won't-let-you-go characters. An immersive book to be savored." -firstClue

Author Bio

Ron Currie is the award-winning author of five novels. He has won the New York Public Library's Young Lions Award, the Addison M. Metcalf Award, the Alex Award, and the Pushcart Prize. His books have been translated into fifteen languages, and his short fiction and nonfiction have received recognition in Best American anthologies. As a screenwriter he worked most recently on the Apple TV+ series Extrapolations and has developed projects with AMC Studios, Amblin Television, and ITV America. He lives in Portland, Maine, and teaches in the University of Southern Maine Stonecoast MFA program.