MONUMENT ROAD
by Charlie Quimby
November 2013 | Fiction | 978-1-937226-25-1 | 365 pp | $16.95
CHARLIE QUIMBY is a fourth-generation Coloradan who spent most of his career in Minnesota after studying at Carleton College. Following an early stint as a bookseller and historical playwright, he wrote for the Minneapolis Star, Honeywell and then his own company, where he was an award-winning writer, annual report creative and marketing strategist. He is a co-author of Planning to Stay, a guide for how to assess your community and take control of its development. Since 2004, he’s blogged about culture and politics at Across the Great Divide and splits time between his two home states, where he writes fiction and volunteers with the homeless.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leonard Self has spent a year unwinding his ranch, paying down debts and fending off the darkening. Just one commitment left: taking his wife’s ashes to her favorite overlook, where he plans to step off the cliff with her. Memories and encounters along the familiar road seem like obstacles—or they may be signs it’s not his final drive after all.
PRAISE FOR MONUMENT ROAD
AN INDIE NEXT LIST SELECTION
A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BIG INDIE BOOK OF FALL 2013
A FALL 2013 BEA “INDIES INTRODUCE…” SELECTION
“Part modern western, part mystery, this first novel will appeal to fans of Louise Erdrich and Kent Haruf. Quimby’s prose reads so true, it breaks the heart.”
—BOOKLIST, starred review
“The Colorado setting and the author’s simple style of prose perfectly complement the complexity of the human spirit in this superb debut.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Monument Road is so rich with landscape, character and event that such a small telling cannot begin to do it justice. Read this exquisite story; it is a joy and a wonder and a tour de force of authorship.”
—SHELF AWARENESS
"Quimby’s storytelling, his humane impulses and his lyrical passages on the meaning of love and time, and on the history, geology and botany of the region, will surely impress readers."
—MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
"A book of confessions and connections, fear, forgiveness and, ultimately, the stirrings of redemption."
—HIGH COUNTRY NEWS
"Not to be overlooked is the love, humor and friendship among pain and loss...a book far more about the richness of life than the finality of death."
—GRAND JUNCTION DAILY SENTINEL
"A wonderful novel full of wit and wisdom, generosity and malice."
—GRAND JUNCTION FREE PRESS
"Quimby's writing is sensitive and graceful; he has a talent for revealing slowly blossoming characters who are beautifully flawed and realistic."
—THE DESERET NEWS
"Monument Road is beautiful and real, full of landscape imagery of the American Southwest as a poignant and sometimes haunting metaphor of our connections to the land."
—15 BYTES
"A novel with size and scope and generosity, with an acute understanding of human nature and a deep appreciation for the ways people face change and work out their lives in relation to each other."
—KENT MEYERS, author of Twisted Tree
"In prose that might have been chiseled from the magnificent landscape he describes, Charlie Quimby has written a great big American Novel. Full of pathos and humor and sadness, you won't reach the end of this book without feeling fuller and wiser."
—PETER GEYE, author of The Lighthouse Road
"A legitimate modern western...a pleasure to read."
—BONNIE NADZAM, author of Lamb
"Charlie Quimby has created a story that is hard to forget. His attention to the details of a fading life and life style are spot on and will be a window to any reader's understanding of the central phenomenon of the New West."
—DAN O'BRIEN, author of Stolen Horses
“A big-hearted novel chock full of memorable characters, a pleasure to read.”
—DAVID RHODES, author of Jewelweed
Also by the author:
INHABITED
Cover art by by Tim Mulcahy