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Vendor
Fritz Agency
Christian Dittus
Original language
English

LIKE THE APPEARANCE OF HORSES

Andrew Krivak

A novel of one family, a century of war, and the promise of homecoming from Dayton Literary Peace Prize winner and National Book Award finalist Andrew Krivak

Rooted in the small, mountain town of Dardan, Pennsylvania, where patriarch Jozef Vinich settled after surviving World War I, Like the Appearance of Horses immerses us in the intimate lives of a family whose fierce bonds have been shaped by the great conflicts of the past century.
After Bexhet Konar escapes fascist Hungary and crosses the ocean to find Jozef, the man who saved his life in 1919, he falls in love with Jozef's daughter, Hannah, enlists in World War II, and is drawn into a personal war of revenge. Many years later, their youngest son, Samuel, is taken prisoner in Vietnam and returns home with a heroin addiction and deep physical and psychological wounds. As Samuel travels his own path toward healing, his son will graduate from Annapolis as a Marine on his way to Iraq.
In spare, breathtaking prose, Like the Appearance of Horses is the freestanding, culminating novel in Andrew Krivak's award-winning Dardan Trilogy, which began with The Sojourn and The Signal Flame. It is a story about borders drawn within families as well as around nations, and redrawn by ethnicity, prejudice, and war. It is also a tender story of love and how it is tested by duty, loyalty, and honor.
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Published 2023-05-01 by Bellevue Literary Press

Comments

"Subtle and nuanced." Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Read more...

"Krivak's resplendent multigenerational family saga expertly braids the horrors of war with the struggles of those waiting for loved ones to return home. ... Krivak's prose is earthy, assured, and exquisitely rendered in evocative descriptions of the natural world juxtaposed with visceral combat scenes. The language is lush, alternating in cadence to reflect the action and settings. The accounts of survival in war-torn countries are particularly striking, illustrating the dichotomy of beauty and death. Krivak is equally adept at exploring the emotional sinews connecting family, community, and country." Booklist (starred review)

Andrew Krivak charts a razor-fine line between war and peace, damnation and redemption, estrangement and love, and along the way gives us a gorgeously detailed portrait of an American family. Whether he's writing about battle, the natural world, or the most private, searing matters of the heart, Krivak brings a rare mastery to the page, a synthesis of language and deep perception that delivers revelation after revelation. Like the Appearance of Horses is a major achievement. .. Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Krivak's Homeric novel is at once intimate and sweeping, expanding an epic story set into motion in The Sojourn. Tenderly attentive to all that is given and taken by war, Like the Appearance of Horses is a graceful, heroic accomplishment that speaks to the costs of duty when violence is as constant as the Pennsylvania mountains that anchor and separate this indelible family we've come to know so personally. -- Asako Serizawa, author of Inheritors

"Krivak impresses with this layered story of deferred homecomings and the elusive nature of peace." Publishers Weekly Read more...