The Fall of the Year
by Howard Frank Mosher
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Description
A priest's adopted son narrates a colorful tale of small-town Vermont life in this autobiographical novel from the author of A Stranger in the Kingdom. Set in the beautiful mountains of Kingdom County, The Fall of the Year is Howard Frank Mosher's brilliant autobiographical novel about love in all its forms, from friendship to the most passionate romance, in a place where family, community, vocation, and the natural world still matter profoundly. Here are the lively stories of the eccentric show more inhabitants of Kingdom County, including Louvia the Fortuneteller; Foster Boy Dufresne, the local bottle picker and metaphysical savant; the incomparably strange clairvoyant and matchmaker, Louvia the Fortuneteller; Dr. Sam E. Rong, a wayfaring Chinese herbalist and connoisseur of human nature; the itinerant vaudevillian mind reader, Mr. Moriarity Mentality, who uses his unusual powers to teach the town fathers a lesson they will never forget; and the daredevil tomboy Molly Murphy, who risks her life to fulfill her dream of running away with the Greatest Little Show on Earth. Mosher's kingdom is "timeless. It existed well before man, has survived his spell upon it, and will do so long after the curtain has fallen" ( Washington Post Book World ). Praise for Fall of the Year "Impossible to read without recalling the best tales of Washington Irving and Mark Twain." -Richard Russo "Superb storytelling, a delightful novel filled with humor and grace." -Alice Hoffman "Dialogue so right that you feel like you're eavesdropping on a small, special world." - New York Times Book Review "Mosher at his agile best, spinning a tale that richly melds vibrant character sketches and a palpable sense of place.... his spare folktale style, a wide spectrum of unforgettable minor characters and rich sense of story sustain this ultimately winning novel." - Publishers Weekly show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I grew up in the great Northeast Kingdom area of Vermont, which becomes Kingdom County in Mosher's fiction—and he takes me home again in this novel. This author uses his eye for the rural Vermont landscape and his ear for the manner of the local people to accurately recreate a place honestly on paper. Mosher draws his characters with plenty of humor and gritty reality. The cast of finely drawn characters in The Fall of the Year is a very enjoyable group, but Father George Lecoeur quickly takes over center stage. He is a fictional man to be savored. There are several stories of friendship and passion that interlock within this novel to yield a book with a lot of heart—in a place where family, community, vocation, and the natural show more world still matter profoundly.
(5/01) show less
(5/01) show less
An enjoyable, light read, but still better by far than most "literary" fiction out there.
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Author Information
17+ Works 1,981 Members
Howard Frank Mosher was born in Kingston, New York on June 2, 1942. He received a bachelor's degree from Syracuse University and a master's degree from the University of Vermont. He taught high school English in a region in rural Vermont called the Northeast Kingdom. He wrote several books about the area including North Country: A Personal show more Journey, God's Kingdom, and Points North. Many of his books were adapted into films including Where the Rivers Flow, A Stranger in the Kingdom, Disappearances, and Northern Borders. He died from lung cancer on January 29, 2017 at the age of 74. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1999
- Important places
- Kingdom County, Vermont, USA
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 128
- Popularity
- 254,250
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.71)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- UPCs
- 2
- ASINs
- 1
