By Kristy Webster
Thursday Review Contributing Writer
In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods; Matt Bell; Soho Press (release date June 2013). From the author of Cataclysm Baby comes In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods, a novel unlike anything else in contemporary literature today. With myth-like storytelling, this book reads as folklore, as a larger than life tale, yet, addresses the extremely relevant subject of marriage, parenthood or the dream of parenthood, in a broken world.
Told in lyrical, haunting and heartfelt prose, we enter the world of a fisherman/hunter and his wife who have escaped the country of their childhood for new a home in the woods. When pregnancy after pregnancy fails, their dream of children threatens to destroy them and everything around them. The husband becomes a ruthless trapper, greedily stripping the woods of beast and fish alike. While is his wife‘s ability to sing objects--even rooms and hallways--into existence creates a greater distance between the two.
But they are not alone. A deeply wounded bear also haunts the woods and through another act of greed, the she-bear comes to share a sacred yet dangerous bond with the husband and his wife. Soon, the husband must embark on an epic journey, all the while being haunted by the voice of a ghost-son. It is a journey to find and hopefully repair what he has lost and nearly destroyed, a journey towards redemption.
This is a deeply moving story, both intimate and universal, told so ingeniously and meticulously it is sure to become a modern day classic.
Visit this author's website at: Matt Bell, author
