Provinces of Night [Paperback]

William Gay's second novel, Provinces of Night recreates the oppressive, evocative atmosphere of the American Deep South he first explored in his debut novel, The Long Home. With a backdrop of rural Tennessee in the 1950s, our teenage protagonist, Fleming Bloodworth finds himself alone in the family home after his father, Boyd, abandons him to hunt down and kill his wife's lover. At the same time, Fleming's grandfather, EF, decides to return to his family after 20 years of self-imposed exile. He returns to discover that his remaining two sons, Warren and Brady are in turn, an alcoholic womaniser and a Bible-quoting fantasist who enjoys putting curses on his enemies. Amid this climate of bitterness and recrimination, Fleming spends a long, hot summer becoming acquainted with the grandfather he has never known and learning about his life as an itinerant banjo player. Along the way, his wayward cousin, Albright introduces Fleming to the beautiful Raven Lee, the daughter of a prostitute from a nearby town. Despite her own perilous circumstances, Raven represents Fleming's only hope of escaping from the hopeless web of misguided blood ties and age-old animosity woven by his own family.

The title of this beautifully crafted novel is borrowed from Cormac McCarthy, and Gay's larger-than-life Southern characters and precise rendering of a sultry Tennessee summer owes much to the inspiration of McCarthy, as well as other legendary Southern writers such as William Faulkner and Carson McCullers. This is a self-consciously big novel in the Southern tradition that could so easily have buckled under the weight of its own ambition, but instead Gay pulls it off with ease, presenting us with a stream of unforgettable characters. While the central themes of love, loyalty and forgiveness are explored seriously and sensitively, the finely wrought prose is also sprinkled with moments of genuine humour as Gay proves that he's not afraid to gently mock his gang of Southern eccentrics. This is a wonderful novel that is a worthy successor to the tradition it so obviously admires.--Jane Morris

'Gay's writing is earth-toned, pungent, deeply rooted in the remote corner of Tennessee... Provinces of Night shows an author with a powerful vision and plenteous veins of material.' Richard Bernstein, New York Times 'There's not a word wasted in this living, breathing narrative populated by strongly-drawn characters... a fresh, original lament for the traces of the old South. Gay's vivid prose and dramatic instinct create lasting images and human moments of genius. This is a far bigger book than many novels twice its size, and it deserves its place in a rich tradition.' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

The Bloodworths come from Ackerman's Field, Tennessee. Theirs is a rough and violent past and Boyd Bloodworth - father of the hero, Fleming - is intent on continuing the tradition. The year is 1952 and E.F. Bloodworth, Boyd's father, has returned after 20 years of roaming.

U.S quotes for Provinces of Night.
"Since the publication of William Gay's first novel, The Long Home in 1999, the Tennessee writer has been compared to William Faulkner, Larry Brown and to Cormac McCarthy, whose literary vision most closely parallels his own. The dark comedy of Flannery O'Connor also comes to mind, most notably in Provinces of Night's hilarious subplot involving a Quixotic attempt to repay a debt of honor". Tennessean.

"The book is enchanting - Gay, a Tennessean, has perfect pitch with both dialect and dialogue. He's shown us the habit many Southerners have of making almost anything funny". Denver Post.

William Gay lives in Hohenwald, Tennessee. His work has appeared in the Georgia Review, the Oxford Review, and The Best American Mystery Stories 2001. He is the author of the novels The Long Home, Provinces of Night and Twilight, described by George Pelecanos as 'a mythical dark-woods adventure, both horrific and comedic, with an astonishing language of its own'. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.