Hailed as one of the year's top five novels by Time, and selected as one of the best books of the year by nearly all major newspapers, national bestseller Peace Like a River captured the hearts of a nation in need of comfort. "A rich mixture of adventure, tragedy, and healing," Peace Like a River is "a collage of legends from sources sacred and profane -- from the Old Testament to the Old West, from the Gospels to police dramas" (Ron Charles, The Christian Science Monitor). In "lyrical, openhearted prose" (Michael Glitz, The New York Post), Enger tells the story of eleven-year-old Reuben Land, an asthmatic boy who has reason to believe in miracles. Along with his sister and father, Reuben finds himself on a cross-country search for his outlaw older brother who has been controversially charged with murder. Their journey is touched by serendipity and the kindness of strangers, and its remarkable conclusion shows how family, love, and faith can stand up to the most terrifying of enemies, the most tragic of fates. Leif Enger's "miraculous" (Valerie Ryan, The Seattle Times) novel is a "perfect book for an anxious time ... of great literary merit that nonetheless restores readers' faith in the kindness of stories" (Marta Salij, Detroit Free Press).
Leif Enger’s debut novel, Peace Like A River, was launched to critical acclaim in 2001 and went on to sell over one million copies. Now a perennial, best-selling American classic, it is at once a heroic quest, a tragedy, and a love story, in which “there is magic... none more potent that Leif Enger’s prose” (Newsday). Enger brings us eleven-year-old Reuben Land, an asthmatic boy in the Midwest who has reason to believe in miracles. Along with his sister and father, Reuben finds himself on a cross-country search for his outlaw older brother who has been charged with murder. Their journey unfolds like a revelation, and its conclusion shows how family, love, and faith can stand up to the most terrifying of enemies, and the most tragic of fates.
Publisher: Ingram Publisher Services
Original Binding: Trade Paperback
Pages: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 0802139256
Item Weight: 0.7 lbs
Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.26 x 8.3 inches
Customer Reviews: 4 out of 5 stars 50,001 + ratings
Praise for
New York Times Bestseller
"Leif Enger ... is a natural-born storyteller, and his novel moves in a current that can be poetic and slow or as tumultuous as whitewater rapids. This novel has the power to convince that, despite sorrow, human experience is a miracle of ordinary truth and extraordinary love." -Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"A rich mixture of adventure, tragedy, and healing ... a journey you simply must not miss." -Christian Science Monitor
"What allows Peace Like a River to transcend any limitations of belief and genre is its broad, sagacious humanity ... There is magic here, none more potent than Enger's prose."-Newsday
“Peace Like a River serves as a reminder of why we read fiction to begin with.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“If you like a ripping good story told in robust prose that gives you goose bumps, latch onto this book – more than a novel of miracles, it is truly a miraculous novel.” —The Seattle Times
“You don’t see novels like this one very often. Peace Like a River reminds a reader of Kent Haruf’s Plainsong or even Norman MacLean’s A River Runs Through It. It’s got that pure American loss of innocence theme, that belief in and fascination with miracles, that insistence on the goodness of men outside of the law.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
“A compelling blend of traditional and artfully offbeat storytelling . . . a miracle well worth witnessing . . . Grade: A.”—Boston Globe
“If ever there was a time for a novel of faith and redemption–a quiet book of old-fashioned verities–this is it. —New York Post
Leif Enger was raised in Osakis, Minnesota, and worked as a reporter and producer for Minnesota Public Radio for nearly twenty years. He lives on a farm in Minnesota with his wife and two sons.
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