"This greathearted novel is the finale of Ivan Doig's passionate and authentic trilogy about the McCaskill family and their alluring Two Medicine country along the hem of the northern Rockies.
Jick McCaskill, the illustrious narrator of English Creek, returns as the witty and moving voice in this classic encounter with the American road and all the rewards and travails it can bring. Jick faces his family's—and his state's—legacy of loss and perseverance from the vantage point of Montana's centennial in 1989 when his daughter Mariah enlists him as Winnebago chauffeur to her and her ex-husband, the magnificently ornery and eloquent columnist Riley Wright, when their newspaper dispatches them to dig up stories of the 'real Montana.' Just as the centennial is a cause for reflection as well as jubilation, the exuberant travels of this trio bring on encounters with the past in 'memory storms' that become occasions for reassessment and necessary accommodations of the heart.
'A casually artful and triumphant end to Doig's trilogy.'—Kirkus Reviews"
"Acclaimed for his beloved Montana trilogy, National Book Award finalist Ivan Doig crafts masterful portraits of life in rural Big Sky Country. Set in the 1930s, Bucking the Sun follows the Duff clan during the construction of the Fort Peck Dam. Hugh Duff is angry that the dam will flood his farm, yet his sons hasten to get jobs working on the project. 'This richly detailed narrative offers comedy, passion, and adventure.'-Library Journal"
"National Book Award finalist Ivan Doig writes about Big Sky country with raw authenticity. Set during the 1920s, Prairie Nocturne finds Susan Duff, the young songbird from Doig's Dancing at the Rascal Fair, now a middle-aged singing coach living in Helena. When her old flame Wes Williamson asks her to mentor his black chauffeur, Monty, she agrees. But racial tensions erupt when Susan's private lessons with Monty attract the attention of the KKK. 'Fine work from a quintessentially American writer.'-Kirkus Reviews"
"Often hailed as the heir apparent to Wallace Stegner, Ivan Doig is among the finest chroniclers of the contemporary American West. In Mountain Time, Lexa McCaskell and Mitch Rozier leave their Seattle home to visit Mitch's dying father in Montana. There Mitch clashes with both Lexa and his father as events from the past are explored and difficult memories resurface. 'Mountain Time will not dissuade those who rank Doig among the best living American writers.'-San Francisco Chronicle"
"National Book Award finalist Ivan Doig had only a vague memory of his mother until he discovered a cache of her letters. They revealed a passionate, can-do woman who loved the lilting rhythm of words. A moving prequel to his acclaimed memoir This House of Sky, Doig's Heart Earth highlights his childhood before his mother's death and eloquently captures the texture of the American West, the fortunes of a family, and one woman's indomitable spirit. 'Another profoundly original and lustrous re-creation.'-Kirkus Reviews"
"In this prize-winning portrait of a time and place—Montana in the 1930s—that at once inspires and fulfills a longing for an explicable past, Ivan Doig has created one of the most captivating families in American fiction, the McCaskills.
The witty and haunting narration, a masterpiece of vernacular in the tradition of Twain, follows the events of the Two Medicine country's summer: the tide of sheep moving into the high country, the capering Fourth of July rodeo and community dance, and an end-of-August forest fire high in the Rockies that brings the book, as well as the McCaskill family's struggle within itself, to a stunning climax. It is a season of escapade as well as drama, during which fourteen-year-old Jick comes of age. Through his eyes we see those nearest and dearest to him at a turning point—“where all four of our lives made their bend”—and discover along with him his own connection to the land, to history, and to the deep-fathomed mysteries of one’s kin and one’s self.
“Sheer magic … simply a national treasure.”—USA Today"
"The central volume in Ivan Doig's acclaimed Montana trilogy, Dancing at the Rascal Fair is an authentic saga of the American experience at the turn of this century and a passionate, portrayal of the immigrants who dared to try new lives in the imposing Rocky Mountains.
Ivan Doig's supple tale of landseekers unfolds into a fateful contest of the heart between Anna Ramsay and Angus McCaskill, walled apart by their obligations as they and their stormy kith and kin vie to tame the brutal, beautiful Two Medicine country.
'Against this masterfully evoked backdrop, Mr. Doig addresses his real subject: love between friends, between the sexes, between the generations. … His is a prose as tight as a new thread and as special as handmade candy. … Dancing at the Rascal Fair races with real vigor and wit and passion.'
—New York Times Book Review"
"A haunting, magnificently written memoir by Ivan Doig about growing up in the American West
Ivan Doig grew up in the rugged wilderness of western Montana among the sheepherders and denizens of small-town saloons and valley ranches. What he deciphers from his past with piercing clarity is not only a raw sense of land and how it shapes us but also of the ties to our mothers and
fathers, to those who love us, and our inextricable connection to those who shaped our values in our search for intimacy, independence, love, and family. A powerfully told story, This House of Sky is at once especially American and universal in its ability to awaken a longing for an explicable past."
"Driven by the memory of a fallen teammate, TSU's 1941 starting lineup made Montana football history, charging through the season undefeated. Two years later, the 'Supreme Team' is caught up in World War II. Ten of them are scattered around the globe in the war's various lonely and dangerous theaters. The eleventh man, Ben Reinking, has been plucked from pilot training by a military propaganda machine hungry for heroes. Man by man, he is to chronicle the adventures of his teammates for small-town newspapers across the country, like the one his father edits. Ready for action, he chafes at the assignment, little dreaming that it will bring him love from an unexpected quarter and put to the test the law of averages, which holds that all but one of his teammates should come through the conflict unscathed. A deeply American story, The Eleventh Man is Ivan Doig's most powerful novel to date."
"Masterfully crafted with lyrical and haunting language, Doig’s memoir remains an enduring classic, a story to be savored by anyone who has ever loved a parent or been shaped by the land around them."
