Aaron Himes, Editor of the popular book blog, The Literate Man, had the following to say about Patrick James O'Connor's debut novel, The Last Will and Testament of Lemuel Higgins, currently scheduled for release by Blackbriar Press on December 1, 2011:
"The Last Will and Testament of Lemuel Higgins is a haunting account of shattered dreams and the quest for impossible redemption. O'Connor has created a gritty and compelling portrait of a broken man, whose hopeful pursuit of atonement is set against the hardscrabble environs of small-town life in the rust belt. A gifted storyteller, O'Connor offers the reader a rare and honest glimpse inside the lightest and darkest corners of the human soul. Lemuel Higgins is a gripping debut novel possessed of exceptional and evocative narration."
Mr. O'Connor is currently scheduling appearances and interviews for January and February 2012. Please continue to direct your inquiries to promotion (at) blackbriarpress (dot) com.
Coming in November 2011: The Last Will and Testament of Lemuel Higgins by Patrick J. O'Connor
Blackbriar Press is proud to announce the publication of The Last Will and Testament of Lemuel Higgins by Patrick J. O'Connor, currently scheduled for release in November 2011.
Lemuel Higgins, a high school pitching phenom in rural upstate New York circa ’77, has the world on a string: a promising spot in the Yankees farm organization and a beautiful young wife, Sarah, with whom he’s creating a new home and family. Five years later, he’s a broken man, abandoned by Sarah and their young son, wasting away from a new disease called AIDS. Fortunately, he still holds a compelling voice that rings through his last will and testament, penned to make amends to Sarah and their son, Danny. Lem’s alternately sheepish and brash memoir revisits might-have-beens undone by self-destructive impulses. Despite two successful big-league starts and a “Lem Higgins Day” parade in his hometown of East Angler, his bright future is snuffed out when the death of his estranged father sends him into a downward spiral of booze and brawling. He duly plumbs the whiskey-soaked depths, destroying his baseball career and his family, before he is resurrected by his brother-in-law, Joby, to attempt a late-inning save that will require a very grisly sacrifice.
Kirkus Reviews called O'Connor's debut novel "a luminous evocation of a hardscrabble community and landscape [that] lends resonance to [a tale of] dissolution and remorse." O'Connor writes in "a stylish, pungent prose and crafts magnetic characters, especially in Lem’s brother-in-law Joby, a flinty, salt-of-the-earth farmer struggling to save his land."
Don't miss this exciting debut novel from what is surely a new and powerful voice in American letters.
Blackbriar Press is currently scheduling Mr. O'Connor for author interviews in early 2012. Please direct any inquiries to promotion (at) blackbriarpress (dot) com.
Lemuel Higgins, a high school pitching phenom in rural upstate New York circa ’77, has the world on a string: a promising spot in the Yankees farm organization and a beautiful young wife, Sarah, with whom he’s creating a new home and family. Five years later, he’s a broken man, abandoned by Sarah and their young son, wasting away from a new disease called AIDS. Fortunately, he still holds a compelling voice that rings through his last will and testament, penned to make amends to Sarah and their son, Danny. Lem’s alternately sheepish and brash memoir revisits might-have-beens undone by self-destructive impulses. Despite two successful big-league starts and a “Lem Higgins Day” parade in his hometown of East Angler, his bright future is snuffed out when the death of his estranged father sends him into a downward spiral of booze and brawling. He duly plumbs the whiskey-soaked depths, destroying his baseball career and his family, before he is resurrected by his brother-in-law, Joby, to attempt a late-inning save that will require a very grisly sacrifice.
Kirkus Reviews called O'Connor's debut novel "a luminous evocation of a hardscrabble community and landscape [that] lends resonance to [a tale of] dissolution and remorse." O'Connor writes in "a stylish, pungent prose and crafts magnetic characters, especially in Lem’s brother-in-law Joby, a flinty, salt-of-the-earth farmer struggling to save his land."
Don't miss this exciting debut novel from what is surely a new and powerful voice in American letters.
Blackbriar Press is currently scheduling Mr. O'Connor for author interviews in early 2012. Please direct any inquiries to promotion (at) blackbriarpress (dot) com.
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