The Heavenly Table

(Paperback)

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A blistering new novel in which three impoverished brothers accidentally embark on a murderous bank-robbing spree... From 'a writer of genius', the author of the classics Knockemstiff and The Devil All the Time Cane, Cob and Chimney Jewett are young Georgia sharecroppers held under the thumb of their God-fearing father, Pearl. When he dies unexpectedly, they set out on horseback for Canada, robbing and looting their way to wealth and infamy. But little goes to plan and soon they're pursued by both the authorities and the stories emanating from their trail of destruction - making the Jewett Gang out to be the most fearsome trio of murdering bank robbers in the Midwest. The truth, though, is far more complex than the legend. And the heaven they've imagined may in fact be worse than the hell they sought to escape.

Reviews

The Heavenly Table is brilliant and unforgettable. In his trademark blend of humor and pathos, Donald Ray Pollock gives us a view into life's dark corners, without ever forgetting there is a lighter side as well

-- Philipp Meyer * author of American Rust and The Son *
Dark, violent and funny, this book will be like nothing else you've ever read * Evening Standard *
There is something of the Coen Brothers in The Heavenly Table. This too is southern gothic with a cast of grotesques, eccentric plot twists and humour of the blackest pitch Pollock writes like an angel an angel that has escaped from Knockemstiff lunatic asylum. * The Times *
A tale of weird and darkly funny invention. * Sunday Times *

A blood-laced tale of three brothers who rob and kill their way across the US. [The Heavenly Table] will be a book you wont be able to stop recommending once youve finished A bit like reading Hunter S Thompson crossed with Cormac McCarthy and a sprinkling of Nick Cave chucked in for brutal measure. Its the kind of book you just know the Coen Brothers are itching to adapt, with its vast array of quirky characters and black humour

* ShortList *
Donald Ray Pollocks brilliant Western is an earthy, raunchy read Dickensian in its rogues gallery of oddball characters. Full of black humour, its superbly constructed and written with true grit. By the end, one is left longing for more and panting for the movie that will surely come -- John Harding * Daily Mail *
Wild, rollicking, and wonderfully vulgar A riotous satire that takes on our hopeless faith in modernity, along with our endless capacity for cruelty and absurd pretension. * New York Times *
Truly fabulous A very wry comedy When reviewing, I usually mark down pages with particularly well-honed phrases: I stopped doing so when reading The Heavenly Table as I probably would have bookmarked every pageWitty and expansive I am tempted to say that anyone wanting to understand contemporary Americas political direction might be well advised to start with this novel. -- Stuart Kelly * Scotsman *
A fine (and often very funny) multi-stranded yarn, set at the dawn of US involvement in WW1 with the nation on the cusp of modernity. As Tarantino's The Hateful Eight dared onscreen, The Heavenly Table lances the boil of modern America on the page. * The Skinny *
Pollocks freewheeling, blood-spilling story is well matched by his prose. * Literary Review *
The darkest of Southern Noir Youll need a strong stomach and may want a hot shower afterward, but youll never forget Pollocks compelling characters. * Crime Fiction Lover *
In a crowded room full of voices, Don Pollocks voice is so distinct youll hear first and wont ever, ever forget it. Nor will you want to. And the kicker is this: He somehow keeps getting better. -- Tom Franklin * author of Poachers and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter *
The Heavenly Table is the latest and strongest evidence that Donald Ray Pollock is one of the most talented and original writers at work today. With uniquely vivid and graceful prose he renders a tale destined to linger in the readers mind, a story by turns violent and darkly amusing, and always powerful. The novel is sure to be ranked among the years best. -- Michael Koryta * New York Times-bestselling author of Those Who Wish Me Dead *
The Heavenly Table is a ferociously gothic ballad about desperate folks with improbable dreams and scant means. It is potent and chimeric, dank, violent, swamped in tragedyand funny as hell. -- Daniel Woodrell * author of The Maid's Version and Winter's Bone *

Donald Ray Pollock is a master-worker. This great novel flows like buttermilk, so smooth and entertaining that you won't be ready for the left hook it delivers to your heart or its sophisticated moral analysis of human life. Pollock has an omniscient eye like Gogol, taking in a vast scene while spinning tales within tales. Readers will love him, writers will study him.

-- Atticus Lish * author of Preparation for the Next Life *

Author Bio

After quitting school at seventeen, Donald Ray Pollock worked at Mead Paper Mill and as a truck driver in Chillicothe, Ohio. After thirty-two years employed as a labourer he enrolled at Ohio State University to study creative writing. He is the author of two acclaimed books, the cult-classic short-story collection Knockemstiff, which went on to win the PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship, and the novel The Devil All The Time. www.donaldraypollock.net