Description

Set in a fictional Colorado town, Kent Haruf’s Where You Once Belonged brings to life small town America and the characters that keep the community together.

Heavy-built Jack Burdette is quite literally too big for his boots – and too big, certainly, for the small-town attitudes of Holt, Colorado. But when he fails to make the grade as a college footballer, and takes a job with the local farmers’ cooperative, it seems he has finally settled into the rhythm and routine of everyday life. Outward appearances can be deceptive, however, as Jack proves: returning from a weekend conference with a new wife in tow, then leaving her behind and skipping town with a bundle of other folks’ money.

Nearly a decade later, no one has forgiven or forgotten, and when Jack reappears, resentment runs high. Once again though, it is Jack whose presence – even more than his eight-year absence – proves the most devastating.

Publisher Review

Haruf 's heroes are small people weighed down with big hearts . . .He manages to find magic in the minutiae of ordinary lives. -- Mariella Frostrup on Plainsong * Mail on Sunday * Haruf 's deceptively artless prose and unsentimental tales are driven by individuals, not incidents, as they choose between decency and cowardice, degradation and rectitude. -- Praise for The Tie That Binds * Times Literary Supplement * Haruf is one of the finest novelists at work today. * Time Out *