Round Rock

A vivid evocation of landscape and community, Round Rock derives great power from psychological subtlety, and from affection for and profound understanding of lives strained or broken but on the mend.  An astonishing debut - fresh, remarkably mature, and constantly surprising

Certainly, a number of Rito's inhabitants - fewer than a hundred in all - are surprised to be living here. Red Ray, for instance, is a wildly alcoholic lawyer who bought a dilapidated Victorian mansion in an attempt to rehabilitate his marriage and regain the affection of his wife and young son. After destroying those hopes with a spectacular final binge, Red established a drunk farm, Round Rock, on the ruins. There, one day at a time, he follows his new, unexpected calling.

“Like that other West Coast chronicler of struggling Americans, Raymond Carver, she’s determined to tell the story straight. She is not interested in literary pretension or postmodern razzle-dazzle, but in achieving a measure of truth—and her generous, engaging novel does just that.”   -  Valerie Sayers, The New York Times Book Review

With insight matched with artistry, Michelle Huneven traces the emerging destinies of these characters as each of them struggles for peace and equilibrium, even happiness and love, against hapless, all-too-human frailty and circumstance.