WENDELL BERRY
Wendell Berry (1934 - present and going strong, we hope) holds a special place here at Whistlestop. For years we have enjoyed the experience of customers coming in and asking tentatively if we had any Wendell Berry, to which we answer confidently, "what area of his writings are you seeking? Essays, novels, or poetry?" We stock almost all we can (and we can order what little is missing). Berry is a clear strong voice for remembering your roots, thinking clearly and calmly in times of stress and danger, and living truly in relation to your family, your community, and your conscience. He articulates the philosophical and practical advantages of living locally (know local, eat local, shop local, read global). In our quest to fashion our website to be like our store, we thought it necessary to provide a special place for Wendell Berry.
A World Lost
A World Lost
Wendell Berry's haunting novel follows Andy Catlett as he revisits the summer of 1944 when his beloved Uncle Andrew was killed and, years later, seeks to unravel the mystery of that violent act and understand how memory and love shape our lives across decades
In this, Wendell Berry’s fifth novel and ninth work of fiction, Andy Catlett revisits his own ninth year in the summer of 1944 when his beloved uncle is shot and killed by the surly and mysterious Carp Harmon. This is his Uncle Andrew, after whom the boy is named, someone who savored “company, talk, some kind of to–do, something to laugh at.”
Years later, still possessed by the story, Andy seeks to get to the bottom of all this, to understand the two men and their lethal connection.
“Berry deftly balances Andy’s investigation into the town’s past with an equally moving realization not only of the sustaining value of memory but of the manner in which they are shaped in enduring ways by what they love . . . a sharp portrait of a town nursing its secrets over decades.” —Kirkus Reviews