This Bright River

(Paperback)

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Description

Lauren Sheehan's career in medicine came to a halt after a sequence of violent events abroad. Now she's back in the safest place she knows--St. Helens, Wisconsin--cut off from career, friendship, and romance.

Ben Hanson's aimless life bottomed out when he went to prison. But after his release, a surprising offer from his father draws him home. In Wisconsin, he finds his family fractured, still unable to face the truth behind his troubled cousin's death a decade earlier.

As Lauren cautiously expands her world and Ben tries to unravel the mysteries of his family and himself, their paths intersect. Could each be exactly what the other needs A compelling family drama and a surprising love story, THIS BRIGHT RIVER confirms Patrick Somerville's status as one of the most exciting young writers at work today.

Reviews

"This Bright River is a flood of virtuoso prose and characterization. Mystery, memory, pain, and a courageous strand of love are interwoven in a riveting narrative of voices, all singing, all merging into the singular vision of one of American literature's young masters."--Nic Pizzolatto, author of Galveston
"This Bright River is nothing short of extraordinary. Somerville has a gift for writing gorgeous prose, complete with sharp humor and a perfect sense of place. But that's only half the story. There's also a great romance here and a shocking set of mysteries that get untangled along the way. Addictive, amazing, unforgettable."--J. Courtney Sullivan, bestselling author of Maine
"In This Bright River, Patrick Somerville brings us two vivid characters knocked hard by life, guiding them through perilous places on a journey that reveals the weight of family history, its constant pull, the way it makes and unmakes us. The result is a novel that is both intimate and mysterious, harrowing and brave."--Megan Abbott, author of The End of Everything and Dare Me
PRAISE FOR THIS BRIGHT RIVER:

"Ingenious, dark, thrilling and heartbreaking, This Bright River contains prose that will tempt you to linger on the page and a plot that simply won't let you. Just fantastic."--Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl

Author Bio

Patrick Somerville grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and later earned his MFA from Cornell University. He is also the author of the story collection Trouble (Vintage, 2006), the novel The Cradle (Little, Brown, 2009), and the story collection The Universe in Miniature in Miniature (Featherproof Books, 2010), and his writing has appeared in One Story, Epoch, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007. He lives with his wife in Chicago, where he teaches creative writing at Northwestern University.