Driftless — David Rhodes

“A fast-moving story about small town life with characters that seem to have walked off the pages of Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology.” -- The Wall Street Journal
 
The few hundred souls who inhabit Words, Wisconsin, are an extraordinary cast of characters. The middle-aged couple who zealously guards their farm from a scheming milk cooperative. The lifelong invalid, crippled by conflicting emotions about her sister. A cantankerous retiree, haunted by childhood memories after discovering a cougar in his haymow. The former drifter who forever alters the ties that bind a community. In his first novel in 30 years, David Rhodes offers a vivid and unforgettable look at life in small-town America.
 
“[Rhodes's] finest work yet . . . Driftless is the best work of fiction to come out of the Midwest in many years.” -- Chicago Tribune
 
“Set in a rural Wisconsin town, the book presents a series of portraits that resemble Edgar Lee Masters's ‘Spoon River Anthology' in their vividness and in the cumulative picture they create of village life.” -- The New Yorker

“Encompassing and incisive, comedic and profound, Driftless is a radiant novel of community and courage.” -- Booklist (starred review)
 
“A welcome antidote to overheated urban fiction . . . A quiet novel of depth and simplicity.” -- Kirkus Reviews
 
“It takes a while for all these stories to kick in, but once they do, Rhodes shows he still knows how to keep readers riveted. Add a blizzard, a marauding cougar and some rabble-rousing militiamen, and the result is a novel that is as affecting as it is pleasantly overstuffed.” -- Publishers Weekly