Above the Thunder - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1849821690 ISBN 13: 9781849821698

Publisher: M P Publishing Limited, 2003

Synopsis

This is a novel of journeys, of the paths four people take because their lives are lacking in some significant way. The devout and the desperate start from different points, but meet along the road, one character says. In the end, there is no difference in Bethlehem or the bath-houses. Both are pilgrimages that begin and end in faith. Anna has just turned fifty, widowed, estranged from her only child, and embittered by a life that is full on the surface but empty at its core. When her daughter, Poppy, calls after a twelve-year absence and asks if she and her family can visit, Anna reluctantly agrees. Soon after, Poppy's husband and their ten-year-old daughter, Flynn, show up on her doorstep without Poppy, to stay. As a favour to a friend, Anna agrees to help to co-ordinate a support group for HIV patients. On the first day she meets Jack, who must choose between his considerable appetites and Stuart, his partner who has been unwaveringly faithful for over a decade. Stuart, in turn, struggles with whether his deep love for Jack will survive the storms ahead.It is Flynn -- imaginative, inspired, and haunted by her convictions about the spirit world -- who becomes the centre of this unlikely but devoted family. Gorgeously written and imbued with wisdom and humour, Above the Thunder is a celebration of unexpected connections and the search for home.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

A wary, middle-aged widow numbed by loss and disappointment. A preternaturally intelligent little girl who eavesdrops on the dead. A charming, sybaritic gay man torn between his love for his partner and the anarchy of his desires.These are the charged poles of Ren?e Manfredi's gorgeously written first novel, a book that explores the currents of tenderness, responsibility and chance that turn strangers into a family.
Anna Brinkman meets her ten-year-old granddaughter Flynn when the girl appears on her doorstep, desperate for a love more steadfast than any she has received from her parents. She meets Jack when he shows up in an AIDS support group she is running and does his best to get kicked out. What ensues in a house on the coast of Maine will be the great journey of all their lives. Filled with humor, sadness, and wisdom, Above the Thunder is a magical achievement.

About the Author:

Ren?e Manfredi received her MFA from Indiana University, a fellowship from The National Endowment for the Arts, and was a regional winner of Granta's Best American Novelists Under 40. Her story collection, Where Love Leaves Us, won the Iowa Short Fiction award. Her short stories have been published in The Mississippi Review, The Iowa Review, The Georgia Review, and the Pushcart Prize anthology, and were featured in NPR's "Selected Shorts" series. Manfredi is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Alaska. Above the Thunder is her first novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: M P Publishing Limited
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1849821690
• ISBN 13: 9781849821698
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 333