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|
The
2004 Award
|
|
The
Heaven of Mercury
by Brad Watson |
Nominated by:
Publisher
of Nominated Edition:
|
| the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors |
|
ABOUT
THE BOOK
|
| Finus
Bates has loved chatty, elegant Birdie Wells ever since he saw her cartwheel
naked through the woods near the backwater town of Mercury, Mississippi,
in 1917. Having 'caught hold of some loose line in her that would attach
itself to stray wildness' and never let go, he's loved her for some eighty
years: through their marriages to other people; through the mysterious early
death of Birdie's womanising husband, Earl; and through all the poisonous
accusations against Birdie by Earl's no-good relatives. A gorgeous portrayal of lifelong friendship, restless passion, marital discord and accommodation, aging and remembrance, death and afterlife, The Heaven of Mercury is inscribed in prose so eerily fine it is one of life's true pleasures. |
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |
| Brad Watson was born in Meridian, Mississippi. He received the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his collection of short stories Last Days of the Dog-Men. The Heaven of Mercury was a finalist for the National Book Award. He lives in Florida, USA. |
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