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A Wooded Shore

And Other Stories

Author Thomas McGuane
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Hardcover
$27.00 US
Knopf
5.77"W x 8.64"H x 0.83"D   | 11 oz | 12 per carton
On sale Oct 14, 2025 | 192 Pages | 9780385350235
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From the award-winning “master of the short story” (The New York Times Book Review)—nine shattering, hilarious tales of men on the outskirts of America, habituating the motels, hot dog stands, and dive bars time forgot, grappling with a world that is swiftly changing, and dreaming of a return to the wooded shores of their youth

In these nine peerless stories, a family boating trip veers into emotional disaster while very narrowly avoiding the physical; a would-be cheater hands over his car—his prized possession—for a shot with a pretty girl; a furniture magnate and his filmmaker daughter visit his impoverished hometown; a doctor’s long-ago affair returns with a bitter pill. Crackling with wry humor, shot through with both wisdom and pain, these are stories of grifters and dreamers, of the lovelorn and the lawless, stories of the ongoing dissonance between the lives we want and the lives this world will allow.
"At 85, the Montana-based writer Thomas McGuane—known for antic tales of misbehaving men— has earned the right to do whatever he wants, and his latest collection, A Wooded Shore, has a delightful no-brakes spirit. Here are short, ribald stories of men on the downslope of middle age who are having affairs, or hunting for mis­tresses, or indulging in mild heroics solely to make a buck. McGuane’s mode is headlong comedy, but his sentences are well worked and musical."
—Vogue

"In every one of these Thomas McGuane stories, something is going to be very wrong and yet probably hilarious—existential slapstick in ventriloquial voices with such precise language and restraint that his sentences will literally shine up off the page....There is no better writer than Thomas McGuane."
—Terry McDonell, Alta

"McGuane’s gift [is] for putting a story into overdrive without skimping on concrete specifics . . . . A Wooded Shore stands with this author’s finest work."
—David Starkey, California Review of Books

“[A] stellar collection . . . . McGuane’s ruminative protagonists are frequently preoccupied by mortality and the strange ways their lives have turned out . . . . As always, McGuane stuffs his stories with offbeat plots, as when an insurance salesman’s life changes after he rescues a cat from a burning house, and darkly funny moments, such as a character dying from a dream . . . . McGuane is one of America’s greatest living writers.”
—Publishers Weekly, *starred review*

“This slim collection from the Montana master seems like . . . a coda to his prolific career . . . . Provides plenty of bleak comedy . . . . The concluding title story is the longest and perhaps the darkest, as a river trip fraught with tension and peril reveals the dysfunction of a tycoon’s family. Flinty and sharp-edged, these stories show no sign that the octogenarian McGuane is softening up.”
—Kirkus

“Spare, engaging, and full of sardonic moments, McGuane, the author of ten novels in addition to many stories, continues to show his mastery.”
—Booklist
© Andy Anderson
THOMAS McGUANE lives on a ranch in McLeod, Montana. He is the author of ten novels, including the National Book Award-nominated Ninety-two in the Shade, three works of nonfiction, and four collections of stories. His work has won numerous awards, including the Rosenthal Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and has been anthologized in the Best American Stories, Best American Essays, and Best American Sporting Essays. View titles by Thomas McGuane

About

From the award-winning “master of the short story” (The New York Times Book Review)—nine shattering, hilarious tales of men on the outskirts of America, habituating the motels, hot dog stands, and dive bars time forgot, grappling with a world that is swiftly changing, and dreaming of a return to the wooded shores of their youth

In these nine peerless stories, a family boating trip veers into emotional disaster while very narrowly avoiding the physical; a would-be cheater hands over his car—his prized possession—for a shot with a pretty girl; a furniture magnate and his filmmaker daughter visit his impoverished hometown; a doctor’s long-ago affair returns with a bitter pill. Crackling with wry humor, shot through with both wisdom and pain, these are stories of grifters and dreamers, of the lovelorn and the lawless, stories of the ongoing dissonance between the lives we want and the lives this world will allow.

Praise

"At 85, the Montana-based writer Thomas McGuane—known for antic tales of misbehaving men— has earned the right to do whatever he wants, and his latest collection, A Wooded Shore, has a delightful no-brakes spirit. Here are short, ribald stories of men on the downslope of middle age who are having affairs, or hunting for mis­tresses, or indulging in mild heroics solely to make a buck. McGuane’s mode is headlong comedy, but his sentences are well worked and musical."
—Vogue

"In every one of these Thomas McGuane stories, something is going to be very wrong and yet probably hilarious—existential slapstick in ventriloquial voices with such precise language and restraint that his sentences will literally shine up off the page....There is no better writer than Thomas McGuane."
—Terry McDonell, Alta

"McGuane’s gift [is] for putting a story into overdrive without skimping on concrete specifics . . . . A Wooded Shore stands with this author’s finest work."
—David Starkey, California Review of Books

“[A] stellar collection . . . . McGuane’s ruminative protagonists are frequently preoccupied by mortality and the strange ways their lives have turned out . . . . As always, McGuane stuffs his stories with offbeat plots, as when an insurance salesman’s life changes after he rescues a cat from a burning house, and darkly funny moments, such as a character dying from a dream . . . . McGuane is one of America’s greatest living writers.”
—Publishers Weekly, *starred review*

“This slim collection from the Montana master seems like . . . a coda to his prolific career . . . . Provides plenty of bleak comedy . . . . The concluding title story is the longest and perhaps the darkest, as a river trip fraught with tension and peril reveals the dysfunction of a tycoon’s family. Flinty and sharp-edged, these stories show no sign that the octogenarian McGuane is softening up.”
—Kirkus

“Spare, engaging, and full of sardonic moments, McGuane, the author of ten novels in addition to many stories, continues to show his mastery.”
—Booklist

Author

© Andy Anderson
THOMAS McGUANE lives on a ranch in McLeod, Montana. He is the author of ten novels, including the National Book Award-nominated Ninety-two in the Shade, three works of nonfiction, and four collections of stories. His work has won numerous awards, including the Rosenthal Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and has been anthologized in the Best American Stories, Best American Essays, and Best American Sporting Essays. View titles by Thomas McGuane

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