The results are equal parts grace and calamity. Every action in Holt casts a long shadow, and the gist of Haruf 's story is what happens when those shadows touch. His story possesses the haunting appeal of music, the folksy rhythms of an American ballad and the lovely, measured grace of an old hymn' New York Times 'Highly charged and compassionate. Instead, he uses their language to capture the mood and mores of the town. Haruf sings the second verse of his moving hymn to life on America's great plains' Kirkus 'Haruf makes us care about these plain-spoken, small-town folks without ever resorting to sentimentality or cliches. Eventide depicts a time, a place and its people so sincerely and so compellingly, with moments of such rare beauty, that the reader cannot walk away' Colorado Springs Independent 'Melancholy truths set to gorgeous melody.

What comes out of their mouths, whether it is kind, mean, ignorant, confused, intelligent or clouded by loneliness, is true and hard, spare as life on the plains.

Haruf's uncanny ability to stay out of his characters' way is evident again in Eventide. In creating a place whose people are tethered to each other by history and emotion as much as place, Haruf's work is now competing with Faulkner's Mississippi' Chicago Sun-Times 'Luminous. The plain truth is you can't stop reading or caring about them' Boston Globe 'Haruf's laconic style - with nouns as strong and upright as fenceposts, the verbs as clean and sharp as razor wire - creates a richly symphonic effect. peopled with individuals whose ordinary lives are invested with epic quality and truth.' Niall Williams, Sunday Times 'This is a novel that succeeds in affirming life without ducking its hardships.' Mail on Sunday 'Two taciturn bachelor brothers, a dim-bulb couple living in a trailer, a quiet preteen boy living with his grandfather, a social worker, and a young mother abandoned by her husband. 'Possesses the haunting appeal of music, the folksy rhythms of an American tale and the lovely, measured grace of an old hymn' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times 'Wonderful.

Eventide haruf