Centuries of June: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Set in the bathroom of an old house just before dawn on a night in June, Centuries of June is a black comedy about a man attempting to tell the story of how he ended up on the floor with a hole in his head. But he keeps getting interrupted by a series of suspects-eight women lying in the bedroom just down the hall. Each woman tells a story drawn from five centuries of American myth and legend in a wild medley of styles and voices. Keith Donohue has been praised for his vivid imagination and for evoking "the otherworldly with humor and the ordinary with wonder" (Audrey Niffenegger). Centuries of June is a romp through history, a madcap murder mystery, an existential ghost story, and a stunning tour de force at once ingenious, sexy, inspiring, and ultimately deeply moving.

Reviews

"Part ghost story, part psychological mystery and part vaudeville show. Think Scheherazade by way of Tristram Shandy by way of The Sixth Sense.Washington Post

"A tour de force in its mastery of styles,the book also has moments of high sillinessthough toward the end Donohue weaves the threads of plot together in a surprising and affecting way."Kirkus Reviews

"Donohue's faultless eye for character and keen sense of humor keeps what could easily become a muddled mess pristine, with members of his quorum shining individually but also acting as cogs in the larger story's machinery. There are moments when the reader is left to wonder how things can possibly come together, but it's worthwhile to trust Donohue's narrators as they lead this puzzling and greatly satisfying trip."Publishers Weekly

Donohues polished prose holds the story together and offers a more than satisfying ending.Booklist

VERDICT: Donohues tour de force blends aspects of time travel and reincarnation genres into a witty whole. With a touch of David Mitchell and Audrey Niffenegger, but a witty style uniquely the authors own, this novel about a clueless man, who may in some future life get it right, is a pleasure to read.Library Journal

[T]he product here is uniquely Donohue, and the craft seamless in the spinning of an absorbing skein of yarns in a marvelous display of voice weaving together to form a single tapestry: a parti-colored utterance (to quote Annie Dillard) unfolding about love, mortality, men and women, memory, family, and the fundamental force of storytelling. Buffalo News

Author Bio

Keith Donohue is the author of the acclaimed novels The Stolen Child and Angels of Destruction. For several years he was a speechwriter at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., and he now works at another federal agency. He lives with his family in Wheaton, Maryland.