Winner of the 2014 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction
Shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing
Named Outstanding 2013 Collection by The Story Prize
Pushcart Prize Winner
In this stunning debut, Shawn Vestal transports us to the afterlife, the rugged Northwest, and the early days of Mormonism. From “The First Several Hundred Years Following My Death,” an absurd, profound vision of a hellish heaven, to “Winter Elders,” in which missionaries calmly and relentlessly pursue a man who has left the fold, these nine stories illuminate the articles of faith that make us human.
The concluding triptych tackles the legends and legacy of Mormonism head-on, culminating in “Diviner,” a seriocomic portrait of the young Joseph Smith, back when he was not yet the founder of a religion but a man hired to find buried treasure. Godforsaken Idaho is an indelible collection by the writer you need to explore next.
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“Shutter your windows—Godforsaken
Idaho is an awesome storm of history, grit, and revelatory imagination.
These stories take huge risks and simply do not falter. Shawn Vestal has set
out to reimagine the American West, and he’s done so with the soulful,
single-minded purpose of a half-mad pioneer.”
—
Patrick Somerville, author of This Bright River and The Cradle