Bøger af Bart Yates

Both sweeping and exquisitely intimate, award-winning author Bart Yates blends historical fact and fiction in a surprising, thought-provoking saga spanning 12 significant days across nearly 100 years in the life of a single man, beginning in 1920s Utah.“Each day is a story, whether or not that story makes any damn sense or is worth telling to anyone else.”At the age of ninety-six, Isaac Dahl sits down to write his memoir. For Isaac, an accomplished journalist and historian, finding the right words to convey events is never a problem. But this book will be different from anything he has written before. Focusing on twelve different days, each encapsulated in a chapter, Isaac hopes to distill the very essence of his life.There are days that begin like any other, only to morph through twists of fate. An avalanche strikes Bingham, Utah, and eight-year-old Isaac and his twin sister, Agnes, survive when they are trapped in an upside-down bathtub. Other days stand apart in history—including a day in 1942, when Isaac, stationed on the USS Houston in the Java Sea as a rookie correspondent, confronts the full horror of war. And there are days spent simply, with his lifelong friend, Bo, or with Danny, the younger man whose love transforms Isaac’s later years—precious days with significance that grows clear only in hindsight.From the Oklahoma Dust Bowl to a Mississippi school at the apex of the civil rights movement, Isaac tells his story with insight, wisdom, and emotional depth. The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl is a wonderful, singular narrative that will spark conversation and reflection—a reminder that there is no such thing as an ordinary life, and the greatest accomplishment of all is to live and love fully.

When his difficult mother is diagnosed with ALS, a sharp-witted yet sensitive artist reluctantly returns to his New Hampshire hometown – and all the ghosts he left behind.Fans of Andrew Sean Greer, Bryan Washington, and Jonathan Tropper will adore this outrageously funny, deeply touching, buoyant novel from the award-winning author of Leave Myself Behind.As it turns out, you can go home again. But sometimes, you really, really don’t want to . . . Home, for Noah York, is Oakland, New Hampshire, the sleepy little town where Noah’s mother, Virginia, had a psychotic breakdown and Noah got beaten to a pulp as a teenager. Then there were the good times—and Noah’s not sure which ones are more painful to recall.Now thirty-seven and eking out a living as an artist in Providence, Rhode Island, Noah looks much the same—and swears just as colorfully—as he did in high school. Virginia has become a wildly successful poet who made him the subject of her most famous poem, “The Lost Soul,” a label Noah will never live down. And J.D., the one who got away—because Noah stupidly drove him away—is in a loving marriage with a successful, attractive man whom Noah despises wholeheartedly.Is it any surprise Noah wishes he could ignore his mother’s summons to come visit?But Virginia has shattering news to deliver, and a request he can’t refuse. Soon, Noah will track down the sister and extended family he never knew existed, try to keep his kleptomaniac cousin out of jail, feud with a belligerent neighbor, confront J.D.’s jealous husband—and face J.D. himself, the ache from Noah’s past that never fades. . . . All the while, contending with his brilliant, unpredictable mother.

From the author of The Language of Love and Loss, the 20th anniversary edition of the classic Alex Award-winning, gay coming-of-age novel heralded as The Catcher in the Rye meets Portnoy’s Complaint. “Tart-tongued and appealing… In Bart Yates’ gripping debut novel, Noah spins a tale that is by turns refreshingly strange and poignantly familiar.” —Paul Russell, author of War Against The Animals Noah York is a smart, sarcastic, complicated seventeen-year-old contending with his dreams of being an artist, his psycho-poet mother, fading memories of his dead father, secrets within the walls of his home—and within his heart as he fights his troubling obsession with the enigmatic boy next door…THE WORLD ACCORDING TO NOAH YORK: “Anybody who tells you he doesn’t have mixed feelings about his mother is either stupid or a liar.” “Sometimes I feel like Michelangelo, chiseling away at all the crap until nothing is left but the exquisite thing in the middle that no one else sees until it’s uncovered for them.” Meet seventeen-year-old Noah York, hilariously profane, searingly honest, completely engaging, and heading into a life that’s only getting more complicated by the day. His dead father is fading into a snapshot memory. His mother, a famous psycho-poet, has relocated them from Chicago to a rural New England town that looks like a bad advertisement for small-town America. And now, the very house he lives in is coming apart at the seams—literally—torn down bit by bit as he and his mother renovate the old Victorian. But deep within the walls lie secrets from a previous life . . .Amid mason jars stuffed with bits of clothing, scraps of writing, and old photographs lie disturbing clues to the mysterious existence of a woman who disappeared decades before. While his mother grows more obsessed by the discoveries, Noah fights his own troubling obsession with the boy next door, the enigmatic J.D. It is J.D. who begins to quietly anchor Noah to his new life. J.D., who is hiding terrible, haunting pain behind an easy smile and a carefree attitude.Noah York’s story is one of hope and heartbreak, love and redemption—and the power of growing up whole once every secret has been set free.

"As it turns out, you can go home again. But sometimes, you really, really don't want to... Home, for Noah York, is Oakland, New Hampshire, the sleepy little town where Noah's mother, Virginia, had a psychotic breakdown and Noah got beaten to a pulp as a teenager. Then there were the good times -- and Noah's not sure which ones are more painful to recall. Now thirty-seven and eking out a living as an artist in Providence, Rhode Island, Noah looks much the same -- and swears just as colorfully -- as he did in high school. Virginia has become a wildly successful poet who made him the subject of her most famous poem, "The Lost Soul," a label Noah will never live down. And J.D., the one who got away -- because Noah stupidly drove him away -- is in a loving marriage with a successful, attractive man whom Noah despises wholeheartedly. Is it any surprise that Noah wishes he could ignore his mother's summons to come visit? But Virginia has shattering news to deliver, and a request he can't refuse. Soon, Noah will track down the sister and extended family he never knew existed, try to keep his kleptomaniac cousin out of jail, feud with a belligerent neighbor, confront J.D.'s jealous husband -- and face J.D. himself, the ache from Noah's past that never fades... All the while, contending with his brilliant, unpredictable mother. [...] The Language of Love and Loss is a story about growing older, getting lost -- and finding your way back to the only truths that really matter." --

A witty, haunting tale of family and friendship, regret and redemption, set on a remote Wyoming cattle ranch in the dead of winter. The White Creek Ranch has been in Hap Cobb's family for over a century and a half, but Hap is now eighty-two, and the last surviving member of his family. Hap has no rival as a home cook, and owns the best-stocked private library in the state. When a sudden blizzard hits one January evening, however, and his ranch help Aaron opens the door to a young woman and a teenaged boy seeking shelter from the storm, everything Hap thought he knew about the world begins to shift. With these two unlooked-for houseguests, the White Creek Ranch soon becomes a wellspring of mystery and possibility, and will never be the same again.