Fourth Of July Creek: A Novel
by Smith Henderson
Buy on AmazonIn this shattering and iconic American novel, PEN prize-winning writer, Smith Henderson explores the complexities of freedom, community, grace, suspicion and anarchy, brilliantly depicting our nation's disquieting and violent contradictions. After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral eleven-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face to face with the boy's profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times.…
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"When I was a little kid in the late 1970s, my parents moved our family to rural western Montana, which happens to be the same time and setting for Smith Henderson’s debut novel. Thankfully, Henderson’s Montana is a good deal darker than that of my childhood; his characters and vivid portrayal of the state and all its poverty make for a fascinating read. The plot centers on a social worker who involves himself in the life of a reclusive family just as the father starts to attract the attention of the FBI. The fact that parts of this book are also set in two of my favorite cities — Missoula, Mont., and Austin, Texas — in a sleepier era didn’t hurt either."
NPR Books We Love — 2014 · apps.npr.org