Jewelweed

Jewelweed
Jewelweed (back cover)
Fiction

Jewelweed

A Novel
“A welcome return of a master storyteller.” —CHICAGO TRIBUNE
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In Driftless, “the best work of fiction to come out of the Midwest in many years” (Chicago Tribune), David Rhodes made Words, Wisconsin, resonate with readers across the country. In Jewelweed this beloved author returns to the same out-of-the-way community and introduces a cast of characters who must overcome the burdens inherited from the past.

After serving time for a dubious conviction, Blake Bookchester is paroled. As Blake attempts to adjust to life outside prison, he reconnects with Danielle Workhouse, a single mother whose son, Ivan, explores the woods with his precocious friend August. While Danielle goes to work for Buck and Amy Roebuck in their mansion, Ivan and August befriend Lester Mortal, a recluse who lives in a melon field; a wild boy; and a bat, Milton. These characters—each flawed, deeply human, and ultimately universal—approach the future with a combination of hope and trepidation.

Jewelweed offers a vision in which the ordinary becomes mythical, the seemingly mundane transformed into revelatory beauty.

Keywords: 
blake bookchester, burdens, challenge, change, church, community, contemporary fiction, conviction, country fiction, cystic fibrosis, dilemmas, driftless, earth, empathy, family, fears, forgiveness, friendships, gratitude, hamlet, hard work, hometown, hope, integrity, limitation, lit fic, literary fiction, locals, love, magical realism, Midwest, outsiders, parolee, pets, psychic strength, psychological fiction, redemption, rural fiction, rural lit, small town fiction, struggles, supernatural, survival, trepidation, wisconsin, wonder, words
ISBN:
9781571311061
Publish Date: 
04/08/2014
Pages: 
464
Size: 
5.5 × 8.5 × 1.06 in
Weight: 
20.6 oz
Author

David Rhodes (1946-2022) is the author of Painting Beyond Walls. As a young man, he worked in fields, hospitals, and factories across Iowa.

Praise and Prizes

Blog Post

Milkweed Staff – 12/20/2022

All of us here at Milkweed Editions are saddened by David Rhodes' passing, and profoundly grateful to have crossed paths...