Attentive New Star readers may have noticed a certain duck circling overhead in our forthcoming section this year. We are thrilled to be releasing Steve Weiner’s much anticipated novel, Duck Island, just in time for the holidays!
Duck Island updates the story of the prodigal son, returning, in the aftermath of the Vietnam war, to the midwestern American town where he grew up. In Steve Weiner’s retelling, the father is no longer alive, and his ghost is unforgiving.
Unable to rekindle a high school flame, Cal Bedrick, who is Jewish, soon meets a very nice Catholic girl, Frannie Sinkiewicz, who falls hard for the troubled young man. Their courtship leads quickly to a marriage that fills their acquaintances with doubts.
Like a David Lynch film, Duck Island vividly contrasts a society whose liberal surface conceals a troubled soul, which is revealed as the novel’s events unfold.
You can find Duck Island in all the usual places, but we recommend checking out your local independent bookstore for a copy (or ask them to order in for you!)
Ebooks available from Kindle and Kobo.
STEVE WEINER draws on his own mid-western roots in telling this tale of a deeply fractured, confused society. The author of Sweet England (2010), The Yellow Sailor (2001), and The Museum of Love (1993; finalist for the Giller Prize), Steve Weiner lives in London, UK.