{"product_id":"9780743264648","title":"Glad News of the Natural World","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eGlad News of the Natural World\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): T.R. Pearson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTwenty years ago, T.\u003c\/b\u003e R. Pearson's \u003ci\u003eA Short History of a Small Place\u003c\/i\u003e was hailed as \"an absolute stunner\" (Jonathan Yardley, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e) and its hero, young Louis Benfield, was dubbed \"a youth not as wry as Holden Caulfield, but certainly as observant, and with a bigger, even sadder heart\" (Fran Schumer, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e). \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Now, older but not necessarily wiser, Louis Benfield returns in \u003ci\u003eGlad News of the Natural World\u003c\/i\u003e. Having moved to New York City from his hometown of Neely, North Carolina, in order to get a sense of the larger world, Louis is a modern-day Candide, looking for love and experience in all the wrong places. However, when tragedy strikes, he finds the maturity needed to be more than man enough for the job.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\"[A] magic carpet of a novel with a wonderfully disorienting charm.\" -- Scott Morris, \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I can think of no other contemporary writer who offers such surprises -- it is impossible to predict even how a sentence will end. . . . Pearson is surely among the greatest living Southern writers.\" -- Haven Kimmel, author of \u003ci\u003eSomething Rising (Light and Swift)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"If Garrison Keillor and William Faulkner were joined in holy literary matrimony, with high priestesses Eudora Welty and Jane Austen waving an occasional wand over the process, their collective tale-spinning offspring might well bear a resemblance to Southern writer T. R. Pearson.\" -- Michael Upchurch, \u003ci\u003eThe Seattle Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Louis makes a wonderful narrator of \u003ci\u003eGlad News\u003c\/i\u003e, mainly because he accepts just about everyone with humane resignation and understanding. He's the epitome of empathic tolerance. Louis eventually faces a situation that forces him to take charge of his life. And he does so with the humanity and wise humor that you'd expect from a lovable loser.\" -- Charles Ealy, \u003ci\u003eThe Dallas Morning News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780743264648\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40589048643790,"sku":"9780743264648","price":20.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/O_c9b0b7b8-cedd-48a3-a058-f322739cfd27.jpg?v=1637710934","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780743264648","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}