Littlejohn

New York: Villard Books [A Permanent Press Book], 1993. First Villard Books Edition [stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Deane Winegar (Author photograph). The format is approximately 5.5 inches by 8 inches. [8], 230, [2] pages. Signed by the author on the half-title page. The true First Edition was published in 1992 by The Permanent Press of Sag Harbor, NY. A successful and beautifully-written novel about a decent North Carolina farmer haunted by errors and redeemed by faith. Painstakingly honest, Littlejohn is "a character as fully rounded in his quirks and imperfections, in his quiet determination and bravery, as any in recent fiction."--Washington Post. Howard Owen (born March 1, 1949) is an American author. He is a writer of literary fiction, mystery, and thrillers. He was the winner of the 2012 Hammett Prize awarded annually by the International Association of Crime Writers. Owen was a sports editor at The Richmond Times-Dispatch and editorial page editor of the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He retired in 2015 after 44 years as a reporter and editor. In 2002 Owen won Richmond Magazine's Theresa Pollak Award. Littlejohn was the first novel by Owen, and he was 40 years old when it was first published by Permanent Press in 1989. Littlejohn was nominated for the (American Booksellers Association) Abbey Award and the (Barnes & Noble) Discovery award for best new fiction. Littlejohn has been printed in Japanese, French and Korean. The book has also been a Doubleday Book Club selection, and audio and large-print editions have been issued. Movie option rights for the book have been sold. All his subsequent books have continued this initial popularity and have garnered additional awards and favorable reviews. Derived from a Kirkus review: An 82-year-old North Carolina farmer tries to accept his past- -in a quiet, tender, and moving first novel. Widower Littlejohn McCain sees no point in living any longer. His grown daughter in Virginia doesn't need him; his senses are failing. But he can't commit suicide: God would never forgive him, and what he most wants is forgiveness. He goes out in the midday sun hoping that `the monkey''—heatstroke—will get him, and while he waits, reviews his life. From this seemingly conventional setup emerges an engaging memoir of a moral, thoughtful man who tried to be good and yet transgressed in ways he can scarcely comprehend: he killed his brother Lafe in a childhood accident—the ramifications of which become clear only at the end of the novel—and unwittingly failed people who counted on him, including his own son. In rural speech that's evocative and never overdone, Littlejohn provides a vivid picture of a unique corner of North Carolina while recalling his early humiliations in the schoolroom; his lonely withdrawal into hard work; his first affair—at age 27—with a Lumbee Indian; his witnessing of concentration camps in WW II (which profoundly affected his attitude toward race); his marriage to much-loved Sara, who teaches him, at age 40, to read. Visiting grandson Justin narrates some interesting sections. Littlejohn is a good, imperfect man and, like this book, good company.