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Green Grass, Running Water

A Novel

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Paperback
$19.00 US
5.25"W x 7.47"H x 1.03"D   | 13 oz | 24 per carton
On sale Jun 01, 1994 | 480 Pages | 978-0-553-37368-4
Strong, Sassy women and hard-luck hardheaded men, all searching for the middle ground between Native American tradition and the modern world, perform an elaborate dance of approach and avoidance in this magical, rollicking tale by Cherokee author Thomas King. Alberta is a university professor who would like to trade her two boyfriends for a baby but no husband; Lionel is forty and still sells televisions for a patronizing boss; Eli and his log cabin stand in the way of a profitable dam project. These three—and others—are coming to the Blackfoot reservation for the Sun Dance and there they will encounter four Indian elders and their companion, the trickster Coyote—and nothing in the small town of Blossom will be the same again…
“King has established himself as a first-rate comic novelist. At his best, he is as savagely and darkly funny as Twain...King has produced a novel that defies all our expectations about what Native American fiction should be. It is a first-class work of art.”—Newsweek

“King confirms his place as the best American Indian novelist to emerge since Louise Erdrich…King’s playfulness makes the story jump off the page.”—San Jose Mercury News

“At once plainspoken and poetic, King is equally at home with his vivid, often comic characters and with the vibrant natural world in which their dramas are played out.”–People
© Hartley Goodweather
THOMAS KING has written several highly acclaimed children’s books. A Coyote Solstice Tale (illustrated by Gary Clement) won the American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award for Best Picture Book and A Coyote Columbus Story (illustrated by Kent Monkman) was a Governor General's Literary Award finalist. King, who is of Cherokee and Greek descent and was a Professor of English at the University of Guelph for many years, won a Governor General's Literary Award for his adult novel, The Back of the Turtle; he won both the BC National Award for Canadian Nonfiction and the RBC Taylor Prize for The Inconvenient Indian. His most recent novel, Indians on Vacation, has recently been nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award. Thomas lives in Guelph, Ontario with his family. View titles by Thomas King

About

Strong, Sassy women and hard-luck hardheaded men, all searching for the middle ground between Native American tradition and the modern world, perform an elaborate dance of approach and avoidance in this magical, rollicking tale by Cherokee author Thomas King. Alberta is a university professor who would like to trade her two boyfriends for a baby but no husband; Lionel is forty and still sells televisions for a patronizing boss; Eli and his log cabin stand in the way of a profitable dam project. These three—and others—are coming to the Blackfoot reservation for the Sun Dance and there they will encounter four Indian elders and their companion, the trickster Coyote—and nothing in the small town of Blossom will be the same again…

Praise

“King has established himself as a first-rate comic novelist. At his best, he is as savagely and darkly funny as Twain...King has produced a novel that defies all our expectations about what Native American fiction should be. It is a first-class work of art.”—Newsweek

“King confirms his place as the best American Indian novelist to emerge since Louise Erdrich…King’s playfulness makes the story jump off the page.”—San Jose Mercury News

“At once plainspoken and poetic, King is equally at home with his vivid, often comic characters and with the vibrant natural world in which their dramas are played out.”–People

Author

© Hartley Goodweather
THOMAS KING has written several highly acclaimed children’s books. A Coyote Solstice Tale (illustrated by Gary Clement) won the American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award for Best Picture Book and A Coyote Columbus Story (illustrated by Kent Monkman) was a Governor General's Literary Award finalist. King, who is of Cherokee and Greek descent and was a Professor of English at the University of Guelph for many years, won a Governor General's Literary Award for his adult novel, The Back of the Turtle; he won both the BC National Award for Canadian Nonfiction and the RBC Taylor Prize for The Inconvenient Indian. His most recent novel, Indians on Vacation, has recently been nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award. Thomas lives in Guelph, Ontario with his family. View titles by Thomas King