Ashland - by Dan Simon (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

★ "Powerfully poetic...a testament to American virtues--and flaws."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A deeply moving family story unfolding in richly evocative prose and a poetic portrayal of a town in decline during the final decades of the American century, Ashland is a book of metamorphoses--of the dance between permanence and transformation.

In Ashland, New Hampshire, Carolyn, born of a teenage pregnancy, grows up alongside her mother Ellie, her aunt Jennie, and her cousins. Ashland is the type of place that most people plan to leave, but few do. Beauty can be found in small things--the trees in the wind, the sky's particular shade of blue, a swim in the river, love, and family. But life can often be unforgiving and solace hard to come by. Carolyn reconciles the losses in her own life with an education at Plymouth State, the local university, and then by capturing in words her world and the people who inhabit it.

Recalling the novels of Richard Russo, Paul Harding, Marilynne Robinson, and Elizabeth Strout, Ashland is a debut novel of great intensity and poetry told in the voices of many vivid characters and, through them, in the voice of Ashland itself.

Review Quotes

★ "A multilayered and richly evocative portrait of a dying New Hampshire mill town, told through the voices of intertwined families during the 20th century... Powerfully poetic, this novel serves as a cross section of the Granite State, a testament to American virtues--and flaws."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"In eloquent, restrained prose, Dan Simon tells the story of intersecting lives from small-town New Hampshire. Like a modern Thorton Wilder with a touch of Faulkner, Simon couches the deepest wisdom in the simplest language and hands it to characters whose outer lives appear simple but whose inner lives are immensely rich. With quiet lyricism and deep compassion, Simon brings to life the complexity, melancholy, and hope that are braided into the human spirit."--Andrew Solomon

"Compelling... A poetic, psychological, original take on the ways we are all affected and connected by how and where we live. The prose is lovely, memorable, also intense. Once read, it stays as if waited for. Beautiful, unique."--Beverly Gologorsky