Description

‘A fine and exciting novel . . . a brisk and jolting story that keeps the pages turning’
– Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain

‘A gripping, action-packed tale, but also [an] intelligent one’
– Guardian

‘The finest American novel in a long, long time’
– Annie Proulx, author of The Shipping News

A classic and unforgettable tale of two brothers struggling in a hostile world.

In a lumber camp in the Louisiana cypress forest, a world of mud and stifling heat where men labor under back-breaking conditions, the Aldridge brothers try to repair a broken bond. Randolph Aldridge is the mill’s manager, sent by his father-the mill owner-to reform both the damaged mill and his damaged older brother. Byron Aldridge is the mill’s lawman, a shell-shocked World War I veteran given to stunned silences and sudden explosions of violence that make him a mystery to Randolph and a danger to himself. Deep in the swamp, in this place of water moccasins, whiskey, and wild card games, these brothers become embroiled in a lethal feud with a powerful gangster. In a tale full of raw emotion as supple as a saw blade,

The Clearing is a mesmerizing journey into the trials that define men’s souls.

Publisher Review

So firmly located and vividly realised that you can almost smell the Louisiana swampwater ... a gripping, action-packed tale, but also a notably intelligent one * Jem Poster, Guardian * Astonishingly powerful ... brilliantly written and the characters in their mire are superbly realised * Toby Clements, Daily Telegraph * An extraordinary novel, one of the best I've read in years * Annie Proulx, Guardian Summer Books * I cannot recommend it highly enough. * Peter Straus, Literary Review * Gautreaux captures the fetid atmosphere of a frontier society poised to join the modern world with great skill, each sentence polished to perfection * Independent on Sunday * Near-perfect ... untouchably good * Alan Warner, Daily Telegraph Summer Books *