Compass Rose

(Paperback)

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It's been more than two decades since Spartina won the National Book Award and was acclaimed by critics as being "possibly the best American novel . . . since The Old Man and the Sea" (The New York Times Book Review), but in this extraordinary follow-up novel barely any time has passed in the magical landscape of salt ponds and marshes in John Casey's fictional Rhode Island estuary. Elsie Buttrick, prodigal daughter of the smart set who are gradually taking over the coastline of Sawtooth Point, has just given birth to Rose, a child conceived during a passionate affair with Dick Pierce-a fisherman and the love of Elsie's life, who also happens to live practically next door with his wife, May, and their children. A beautiful but guarded woman who feels more at ease wading through the marshes than lounging on the porches of the fashionable resort her sister and brother-in-law own, Elsie was never one to do as she was told. She is wary of the discomfort her presence poses among some members of her gossipy, insular community, yet it is Rose, the unofficially adopted daughter and little sister of half the town, who magnetically steers everyone in her orbit toward unexpected-and unbreakable-relationships. As we see Rose grow from a child to a plucky adolescent with a flair for theatrics both onstage and at home during verbal boxing matches with her mother, to a poised and prepossessing teenager, she becomes the unwitting emotional tether between Elsie and everyone else. "Face it, Mom," Rose says, "we live in a tiny ecosystem." And indeed, like the rugged, untouched marshes that surround these characters, theirs is an ecosystem that has come by its beauty honestly, through rhythms and moods that have shaped and reshaped their lives. With an uncanny ability to plunge confidently and unwaveringly into the thoughts and desires of women-mothers, daughters, wives, lovers-John Casey astonishes us again with the power of a family saga.

Reviews

[Compass Rose] is marvelous, returning us to South County, Pierce and Sawtooth Point. . . . This splendid novel lives and breathes with all its psychic powers and complex human spirit. Providence Journal

Beautiful, elegiac. . . . Caseys portrayal of . . . South County is carefully observed, lovingly rendered and delicately parseda full-throated celebration of the natural world. The New York Times Book Review

Casey can write the thoughts, feelings, emotions, hopes and dreams of women, be they wives, mothers, daughters or lovers, better than anyone. The Seattle Times

Each character in Mr. Caseys large cast is gratifyingly complex, and the novel hums with energy. The Wall Street Journal

Casey is a brilliant observer. . . .Breathtaking. San Francisco Chronicle

An old-fashioned comfort food novel. Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Splendid. . . . By the end of the book [readers] may well feel as if they themselves had spent several years living in South County. And many such readers, I predict, will be reluctant to leave. Troy Jollimore, Los Angeles Times

John Casey luminously celebrates a young woman who is indeed the compass for her fractured family and community. . . . Rose is a literary raritythe good and tender-hearted character who is also credible. And Casey has written an affecting story of the way it ismessy, difficult and sometimes radiantly splendid. The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Mr. Casey describes the extreme claustrophobia and menace of small town living well. His Rhode Island hamlet is filled with gossipthats a givenbut also the overlapping, intertwining relationships that exist in these kinds of insular communities. . . . Casey is so adept at presenting character. . . . It would be great to see them crewing the Pequod, searching for that ever-elusive whale. Even Moby Dick couldnt sink the likes of these women. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The genius of novelist John Casey is that he can make the ordinary sublime. South County Independent

A subtly unusual novel. The Columbus Dispatch

The enjoyment of this novel is derived from the unobtrusive skill with which Casey charts the entanglements, convergences, repulsions, and compromises of life in a close-knit community. . . . Casey . . . is marvelously adept at conveying the reflections of an intelligent but not intellectual character such as Elsie. . . . The strongest impression left on the reader, however, is how stubbornly the characters remain themselves even as they are inescapably drawn into each others lives. The Boston Globe

There is real greatness to John Caseys writing in Compass Rose, which provides a realistic window in to the lives of those who make their living off the Salt Marshes of Rhode Island. There are many lovely, sharp details surrounding the scenery of this estuary, and characters are complicated and fascinatingespecially young Rose. Bookreporter

This is the kind of novel you dont just readyou dwell inand when you come to the final scenes . . . you hate to see it end. Hudson Valley News

Casey wades with aplomb through the imposed intimacies of a small setting and the closed feel of a place where families have lived for generations, and it takes years for outsiders to ever really belong. The Oregonian

Author Bio

John Casey was born in 1939 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and the University of Iowa. His novel Spartina won the National Book Award in 1989. He lives with his wife in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he is a professor of English literature at the University of Virginia.