JEWELWEED

  A novel by David Rhodes

 

When Rhodes burst onto the literary scene with three novels in the 1970s, he was hailed by John Gardner as “a brilliant visionary,” and compared to Sherwood Anderson and Marilynne Robinson. In 1976, a motorcycle accident left him paralyzed from the chest down. He did not publish again until 2008, when Milkweed released Driftless, a novel that brought the town of Words, Wisconsin to life in a way that resonated with readers across the country. An extraordinary event in several ways, the publication marked Rhodes’ return to the literary scene after a thirty-year silence, and resulted in a far broader audience than he had in the seventies.

 

Now, with Jewelweed, David Rhodes returns to the same rural community in Wisconsin, and introduces a cast of characters who all find themselves charged with overcoming the burdens left by the past, and finding a new sense of belonging in the present moment—sometimes with the help of peach preserves or mashed potato pie. Each of Rhodes’ characters—flawed, deeply human, and ultimately universal—approach the future with a combination of hope and trepidation, increasingly mindful of the importance of community to their individual lives. Rich with a sense of empathy and wonder, Jewelweed offers a vision in which the ordinary becomes mythical, and the seemingly mundane is transformed into revelatory beauty. 

Please join us as we welcome David Rhodes to the Reader's Loft for a reading from Jewelweed.

Thursday, June 19, 2013

6:30 pm