The Barrowfields, Phillip Lewis
The Barrowfields, Phillip Lewis
List: $22.50 | Sale: $15.75
Club: $11.25

The Barrowfields

Author: Phillip Lewis

Narrator: MacLeod Andrews

Unabridged: 11 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/07/2017


Synopsis

A richly textured coming-of-age story about fathers and sons, home and family, recalling classics by Thomas Wolfe and William Styron, by a powerful new voice in fiction

Just before Henry Aster’s birth, his father—outsized literary ambition and pregnant wife in tow—reluctantly returns to the small Appalachian town in which he was raised and installs his young family in an immense house of iron and glass perched high on the side of a mountain. There, Henry grows up under the writing desk of this fiercely brilliant man. But when tragedy tips his father toward a fearsome unraveling, what was once a young son’s reverence is poisoned and Henry flees, not to return until years later when he, too, must go home again. 
 
Mythic in its sweep and mesmeric in its prose, THE BARROWFIELDS is a breathtaking debut about the darker side of devotion, the limits of forgiveness, and the reparative power of shared pasts.

– SIBA Okra Pick

Reviews

Goodreads review by Angela M on March 31, 2017

4.5 stars - revising this as of 3/31/17 to 5 stars. This is one of those books where I knew from the first page, actually the first line that I would love the writing. Subtle, quiet at first, but then just amazingly descriptive writing that brings you to this place, this small town called Old Buckram......more

Goodreads review by Karen on March 31, 2017

I enjoyed this debut novel, a coming of age story set in the Appalachian Mountains. Henry is the son of a brilliant man who was born very poor, but went away to college, became a lawyer, had one big case that made him some money, and bought an old sinister mansion of metal and glass. This story foll......more

Goodreads review by Dana on March 28, 2017

The Barrowfields is a beautifully written Southern Gothic coming of age novel. The writing is gorgeous - almost poetic. As a North Carolinian, I think the author did amazing job creating a sense of place and left me with characters I will long remember. A few times I felt it became a bit unfocused, s......more

Goodreads review by Marjorie on November 19, 2016

Henry’s father is obsessed with literature and the writing of a novel, so much so that each family member’s life seems to revolve around his books and writing endeavors. Henry’s parents buy a strange, metal and glass house, which is possibly haunted, in the Appalachian Mountains. There are some back......more


Quotes

’The Barrowfields,’ with its almost Victorian title, offers in its own ways the pleasures of older novels, with their coziness and sweep, and their tacit belief that family is destiny. The prose has the beautiful attention to detail that embeds us in place… ‘The Barrowfields’ is a work of abundant talent.” - The New York Times Book Review

“Charming, absorbing, and assured. . . . Lewis evokes his settings beautifully, and his prose is bracingly erudite. This debut has the ability to fully immerse its readers.” —Publishers Weekly
 
The Barrowfields is a stunning debut novel rich in character and place, steeped in literature and music, and fraught with family drama. . . . With clear echoes of Poe and Wolfe, The Barrowfields also gives a nod to Richard Russo by reflecting an appreciation for the eccentricities of regional characters.” —Shelf Awareness
 
“Rich and complex. . . . Lewis is a master of creating a sense of place.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“In his evocative debut about disenchantment and identity, Lewis captures the longing of a southerner separated from his home, his family, and his ambition… Like fellow North Carolinian Thomas Wolfe, Lewis tackles the conflicting choice between accepting one’s roots and rejecting the past, and he does so with grace, wit, and an observant eye.” —Booklist

“A novel this good is a rare thing. Elegiac and timeless, THE BARROWFIELDS is an unforgettable evocation of a dark American saga. Reading it is like cracking open the tattered first edition of a classic you somehow missed but just pulled from your father’s bookshelf.” —David Gilbert, National Bestselling author of & Sons
 
"Majestic and rich with the textures of life, Phillip Lewis’s THE BARROWFIELDS is one of the great discoveries of the year. This is a debut so assured in its sense of place and history that it will leave you in awe of what Lewis has accomplished here: a sorrowful, beautiful ode to the bond of family, the ghosts that haunt us, and the stories that shape us." —Paul Yoon, author of SNOW HUNTERS
 
"THE BARROWFIELDS knows that the worst hauntings happen not in old houses but in troubled minds. The psychological landscape is craggy in this vivid update on Southern Gothic steeped in gorgeous vernacular and full of characters ready to walk off the page. Lewis goes down to the depths and back up in this powerfully hopeful book, and the reader is helpless in his hands.” —Matthew Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of WE ARE NOT OURSELVES
 
“Beautifully written and deeply moving, THE BARROWFIELDS is a novel that centers on a man conflicted between his love of family and his devotion to literature. Phillip Lewis is a very talented writer, and his debut deserves a wide and appreciative readership.” —Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author of SERENA and ABOVE THE WATERFALL
  
“A beautiful, evocative novel with an amazing sense of place and an understated, dark sensibility. A brilliant debut.”—Jenni Fagan, author of THE SUNLIGHT PILGRIMS and THE PANOPTICON


Awards

  • International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award