Michael Parker is the author of six novels and three collections of stories. His short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times Magazine, the Oxford American, Runner's World, Men's Journal, and other publications. His work has been anthologized in The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Pushcart Prize. He is the Nicholas and Nancy Vacc Distinguished Professor in the MFA Writing Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He lives in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, and Austin, Texas.
"The novel is timeless and riveting in its strangeness . . .
Parker's gift for language transcends its 1900s setting, finds its
peak expression in the sisters' letters, as incisive and deadpan as
Charles Portis' True Grit."
--Vogue "In the tradition of Katherine Anne Porter, Parker's
exceptional tale explores the power and strength of kinship on the
harsh American frontier."
--Publishers Weekly "In Prairie Fever, there is humor as well as
danger, love as well as longing, and reconciliation as well as
lingering spite. It's splendid reading."
--Lone Star Literary Life "Full of humor as well as anguish,
suggesting that some bonds are strong enough to surpass even the
most painful betrayal."
--Manhattan Book Review "Parker's chimerical slipstream of a novel
asks, Is it better to hew to that which is, or to see the world as
you wish? Readers will surely be pulled deep into the strange and
wild river of Elise's fanciful peregrinations."
--Booklist, starred review "A frontier tale of sibling rivalry. . .
Parker's novel isn't as much about sisterhood as love, as the two
struggle to reckon with their estrangement head-on; some of the
novel's most powerful sections are Elise's letters to Lorena,
addressed not directly to sis but to the horse she rode during the
blizzard . . . the easygoing, sometimes-smirking nature of the
prose (True Grit comes to mind) makes the novel a pleasant
ride."
--Kirkus Reviews "Michael Parker has captured a time, place, and
sisterhood so perfectly it hurts to turn the last page. Prairie
Fever is a riveting, atmospheric dream of a novel."
--Dominic Smith, author of The Last Painting of Sara de Vos "What a
terrific book this is, wonderful and strange . . . a whole family
acting out what can and can't be forgotten, against the backdrops
of prairie and range--characters so magnificently and sometimes
comically stubborn I really couldn't put the book down. And what
other novel has a character writing letters to a dead horse? I was
completely taken by this book."
--Joan Silber, author of Improvement "Let me just say that Prairie
Fever--concerning the lives of the Stewart sisters of Lone Wolf,
Oklahoma, in the early years of the twentieth century--is the most
beautiful novel I have read in quite some time. Taking a cue from
the irrepressibly inventive younger sister, Elise, I soon began
reading it aloud to someone I love, and the novel more than rewards
such a shared experience. The language is that graceful and
original, the events and characters (horses included) that
spellbinding and funny and moving; and always the melancholy beauty
and mysterious power of the open prairie shine through. To borrow a
phrase from Mr. McQueen--first encountered as a young teacher in a
one-room schoolhouse--one comes away from the novel with a keener
sense of 'how one ought to go about living one's life.'"
--Tom Drury, author of Pacific "Prairie Fever is an exceptionally
charming novel about the wonders and troubles of love, land, and
language. Witty and poignant, the novel is as elegantly constructed
as a poem, and it features the best dialogue this side--or any
side--of the Natchez Trace. Yet another wonderful book from Michael
Parker."
--Chris Bachelder, author of The Throwback Special "That a love
story of this strangeness and rightness can come out of the event
of a girl nearly dead in a storm is a testament to the wonder that
is Michael Parker's talent. Not least, he's invented a language, a
formal way of speaking that is perfectly suited to his people and
to this dreamy novel."
--Jane Hamilton, author of The Excellent Lombards "Michael Parker
will infect readers with a fever for his storytelling skills and
his beguiling prose."
--Salisbury Post
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