Launched into existence by Mark Twain in 1835, Huck Finn and Jim have now been transported by Norman Lock through three vital, violent, and transformative centuries of American history. As time unfurls on the river's banks, they witness decisive battles of the Civil War, the betrayal of Reconstruction's promises to the freed slaves, the crushing of the Native American nations, and the electrification of a continent. Huck, who finally comes of age when he's washed up on shore during Hurricane Katrina, narrates the story as an older and wiser man in 2077, revealing our nation's past, present, and future as Mark Twain could never have dreamed it.
The Boy in His Winter is a tour de force work of imagination, beauty, and courage that reenvisions a great American literary classic for our time.
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“I read Norman Lock’s The Boy in His Winter withdelight and amazement. Styled in the vernacular of a rapidly changing America,it stays true to the themes of Mark Twain’s original: class relations, race andslavery, childhood innocence, moral hypocrisy—and, of course, the stark beautyand unforgiving nature of America’s greatest river. I finished this absolutelyelegant narrative feeling that Huck Finn has never been more alive.”
— David Oshinsky, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Polio: An American Story
“In this surreal and otherworldly river journey through time, Norman Lock transports Huck Finn down the Mississippi and deep into America’s history—and future. Elegant and imaginative, The Boy in His Winter is a tale that’s as hypnotic as it is profound.”
— Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Devil in the Grove“[Lock] is one of the most interesting writers out there. This time, he reimagines Huck Finn’s journeys, transporting the iconic character deep into America’s past—and future.”
— Reader’s Digest“Inspired by Mark Twain and propelled by the currents of the Mississippi River, this is a tall tale that Lock has abducted and handed over to Huck Finn…Lock plays profound tricks, with language—his is crystalline and underline-worthy—and with time, the perfect metaphor for which is the mighty Mississippi itself.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Grover Gardner adopts the mantle of Mark Twain’s Huck Finn with precisely the timbre, emphasis, and pacing that one would imagine of a matured Finn who has been thrown into the future…Author Lock achieves a most curious pastiche of the Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn saga, and his recognizable adaptation of Twain’s quintessential humorous style charms the listener. Fans of Twain will enjoy the many references to the original works.”
— AudioFile“An eclectic hybrid of literary appropriation, Zelig-like historical narrative, time-travel tale, and old-style picaresque.”
— Kirkus ReviewsBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Norman Lock is the award-winning author of novels, short fiction, and poetry, as well as stage, radio, and screenplays. He has won the Dactyl Foundation Literary Fiction Award, the Paris Review’s Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, and writing fellowships from the New Jersey Council on the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.