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A Prayer for the Dying
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A Prayer for the Dying Hardcover - 1999

by Stewart O'Nan


From the publisher

A Prayer for the Dying is Stewart O'Nan's most astounding achievement yet, a sunlit Gothic painted in shimmering prose that darkens the further you go into it, until, as in the best Poe and Flannery O'Connor, there is no turning back.

Set in a leafy Wisconsin town just after the Civil War, A Prayer for the Dying opens harmlessly on a languid summer day; only slowly do events reveal themselves as sinister, blooming gently into a shared nightmare, as one neighbor after another succumbs to a creeping, always fatal disease. Our sole witness to this epidemic is Jacob Hansen, Friendship's sheriff, undertaker, and pastor. As the disease engulfs the town, Jacob must find a humane way to govern, as well as take care of his wife and baby daughter, though there seems no way to save those he loves short of calling a full quarantine and boarding up the sick in their houses. And what of the tramps slipping nightly through the tinder-dry woods, the spiritualists from the city camped on the edge of town with their charismatic leader Chase? Who-will bury the dead properly, if not Jacob?

Dark, poetic, and chilling, A Prayer for the Dying asks if it's possible to be a good man in a time of madness. It confirms what some readers have known all along: Stewart O'Nan is not merely one of the best young novelists in America, but one of the finest novelists of our time.

Details

  • Title A Prayer for the Dying
  • Author Stewart O'Nan
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 195
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Henry Holt & Company, New York
  • Date 1999
  • ISBN 9780805061475 / 0805061479
  • Weight 0.63 lbs (0.29 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.83 x 5.36 x 0.98 in (19.89 x 13.61 x 2.49 cm)
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 98039613
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC
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A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel
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A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel

by O'Nan, Stewart

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Henry Holt and Co.. Used - Very Good. Very Good condition. Very Good dust jacket. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner’s name, short gifter’s inscription or light stamp. Bundled media such as CDs, DVDs, floppy disks or access codes may not be included.
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A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel
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A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel

by O'Nan, Stewart

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A Prayer for the Dying

A Prayer for the Dying

by O'Nan, Stewart

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New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1999. First Edition. Hardcover, Ex-. Good/Good. If there were any doubt of his protean gifts on the basis of his four previ ous, singularly different novels (A World Away, etc.), O'Nan again proves h imself a writer of dazzling virtuosity and imagination. This eloquent horro r tale/philosophical fable is yet another of his narratives in which charac ter and fate intertwine in a situation of moral gravity. Narrator Jacob Han sen (who speaks to himself in the third person: "You can feel the past oozi ng up like mud") is a psychologically scarred Civil War veteran. Shortly af ter the end of the conflict, he has settled with his wife and baby daughter in the tiny prairie town of Friendship, Wis., which is now in the midst of a spectacularly beautiful summer?and a troubling drought. Jacob has three jobs?as undertaker, constable and minister?and a crushing, somewhat eerie s ense of responsibility for all of the citizens of Friendship. His feverish piety and his repeated… Read More
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A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel

A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel

by O'Nan, Stewart

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A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel

A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel

by O'Nan, Stewart

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Henry Holt and Co., 1999. Hardcover. Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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A Prayer for the Dying.
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A Prayer for the Dying .

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Henry Holt & Co., 1999. First Edition, Ex-Library. Hardcover. Very good. Great book! Mild wear on dj, clean pages, a few library stamps. From Publishers Weekly: If there were any doubt of his protean gifts on the basis of his four previous, singularly different novels (A World Away, etc.), O'Nan again proves himself a writer of dazzling virtuosity and imagination. This eloquent horror tale/philosophical fable is yet another of his narratives in which character and fate intertwine in a situation of moral gravity. Narrator Jacob Hansen (who speaks to himself in the third person: "You can feel the past oozing up like mud") is a psychologically scarred Civil War veteran. Shortly after the end of the conflict, he has settled with his wife and baby daughter in the tiny prairie town of Friendship, Wis., which is now in the midst of a spectacularly beautiful summer?and a troubling drought. Jacob has three jobs?as undertaker, constable and minister?and a crushing, somewhat eerie sense of… Read More
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A Prayer for the Dying
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A Prayer for the Dying

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A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel
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A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel

by Stewart O'Nan

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A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel
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A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel

by O'Nan, Stewart

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel
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A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel

by O'Nan, Stewart

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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