{"product_id":"southern-cross-the-dog-a-novel-isbn-9780062225023","title":"Southern Cross the Dog: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the tradition of Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O’Connor, Bill Cheng’s \u003cem\u003eSouthern Cross the Dog\u003c\/em\u003e is an epic literary debut in which the bonds between three childhood friends are upended by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. In its aftermath, one young man must choose between the lure of the future and the claims of the past.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eHaving lost virtually everything in the fearsome storm—home, family, first love—Robert Chatham embarks on an odyssey that takes him through the deep South, from the desperation of a refugee camp to the fiery and raucous brothel Hotel Beau-Miel and into the Mississippi hinterland, where he joins a crew hired to clear the swamp and build a dam.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlong his journey he encounters piano-playing hustlers, ne’er-do-well Klansmen, well-intentioned whores, and a family of fur trappers, the L’Etangs, whose very existence is threatened by the swamp-clearing around them. The L’Etang brothers are fierce and wild but there is something soft about their cousin Frankie, possibly the only woman capable of penetrating Robert’s darkest places and overturning his conviction that he’s marked by the devil.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTeeming with language that renders both the savage beauty and complex humanity of our shared past, \u003cem\u003eSouthern Cross the Dog\u003c\/em\u003e is a tour de force that heralds the arrival of a major new voice in fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eAn epic odyssey in which a young man must choose between the lure of the future and the claims of the past\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith clouds looming on the horizon, a group of children play among the roots of the gnarled Bone Tree. Their games will be interrupted by a merciless storm–bringing with it the Great Flood of 1927–but not before Robert Chatham shares his first kiss with the beautiful young Dora. The flood destroys their homes, disperses their families, and wrecks their innocence. But that kiss will sustain Robert for years to come. Having lost virtually everything in the storm's aftermath, Robert embarks on a journey through the Mississippi hinterland–from a refugee camp to a brothel to the state's fearsome swamp. Trouble follows close on his heels, fueling Robert's conviction that he's marked by the devil. Yet just when he seems to shake off his demons, he's forced to make a choice that will test him as never before. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTeeming with language that \u003cem\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/em\u003e hailed as \"sun-scorched prose [that] recalls William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, and Cormac McCarthy,\" \u003cem\u003eSouthern Cross the Dog\u003c\/em\u003e is a tour de force of literary imagination that voices both the savage beauty and complex humanity of the American South. \u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“Fantastic and beautifully written, \u003ci\u003eSouthern Cross the Dog\u003c\/i\u003e is an epic and bluesy throwdown in the Southern tradition.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNathan Englander, author of What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A vibrant world grows from the pages of \u003ci\u003eSouthern Cross the Dog\u003c\/i\u003e and its dynamic mix of language and place.  Bill Cheng conjures history with precision and style in his exceptional debut.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRavi Howard, author of Like Trees, Walking\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An incredibly daring and powerful debut. Not only does Bill Cheng set the language on fire in \u003ci\u003eSouthern Cross the Dog,\u003c\/i\u003e but he creates a whole new territory of story-telling. . . . Cheng, almost literally, writes out of his skin.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eColum McCann, National Book Award-winning author of Let the Great World Spin\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An authentic, riveting portrait of the Mississippi Delta and its complex worlds. In a series of interlocking stories, Bill Cheng embraces the region’s 1927 flood, voodoo, blues, and race with breathtakingly beautiful prose.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWilliam Ferris, author of Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Bill Cheng's \u003ci\u003eSouthern Cross the Dog\u003c\/i\u003e is a wildly ambitious debut novel - vividly imagined, frequently poetic - conjuring the Southern Delta of the first half of the 20th century as a fever dream, steeped in the blues. . . .  It's hard to resist the sweep of Southern history that the author conjures, the way he makes the devil as palpably real. The title suggests a mysterious piece of Southern folk art, and the novel works a similar magic.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAustin American-Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[A] dark, lyrical debut novel… Cheng imbues the landscape with Faulkner-esque poetry.  …the prose is arresting.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker (Briefly Noted review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A rich, rollicking debut. . . a phantasmagorical excursion into a world. . . marked by bad moons, evil winds, backwater magic, and hoodoo curses.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“There’s a confidence in Cheng’s voice, an ability to fully inhabit his characters’ skins, their place, their era. . . He’s sung their world into life and wrapped it up in a powerful, magical devil’s bag of a book that echoes long after you finish the last word.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAtlanta Journal-Constitution\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Scintillating. . . . Unforgettable.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Cheng is a fluid and forceful writer. . . As you turn the pages of \u003ci\u003eSouthern Cross the Dog\u003c\/i\u003e. . . it begins to occur to you that Mr. Cheng might have dedicated his novel not to bluesmen but to Southern gothic writers like William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy. There is almost a classical rigor to the way his sentences seek to capture the cadence and diction of these writers.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[A] powerful debut.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Lush and so very often poetic. . . . \u003ci\u003eSouthern Cross the Dog\u003c\/i\u003e has large and small echoes of masterful works, but we should not make any mistake—Cheng has carved out his own creative and accomplished path.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEdward P. Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Known World and All Aunt Hagar's Children\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Vividly imagined, frequently poetic. . . . It’s hard to resist the sweep of Southern history . . . the way [Cheng] makes the devil as palpably real as the natural world that he pervades. . . . A strong voice and a compelling achievement.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“With its evocative settings and rich McCarthyesque language, this Southern gothic packs a punch like a mean drunk.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A novel in the great Southern tradition; think Cormac McCarthy or a 21st-century Faulkner. . . . This book is a winner for lovers of plot; tough, lyrical writing; history; and the trials of the deep South.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[A] brooding, spine-chilling southern odyssey. . . . Bold and piercing. . . . [Cheng’s] darkly rhapsodic language is so imaginative and highly charged that each word seems newly forged.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ecco","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44888143134949,"sku":"NP9780062225023","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780062225023.jpg?v=1730228248","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/southern-cross-the-dog-a-novel-isbn-9780062225023","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}