other books by the author of ordinary grace

So what interests me in the stories is the struggle to hold to these ideals in a world that seems often bent on either forcing or seducing you from them. Cork believes that in this life, family is the most significant relationship you’re likely to experience. Cork believes that you make commitments, and, come hell or high water, you stand by those commitments.

So, Cork believes in justice I believe profoundly in the necessity for justice in this world. In my series, many of Cork’s concerns and considerations are my own. Any thoughts on that?Ī: Yeah, I have a few. I think in all your Cork books the themes you seem to be interested in are kinship and loyalty and what those things mean. Q:I think most serious writers have certain themes they are working through in almost every book. It’s like a recollection that drifts between dream and reality. It’s told by Frank forty years after the events took place, but the perceptions and the way in which occurrences, people, places, and emotions are described is often in the moment and from the point of view of a thirteen-year-old kid. How did you accomplish this?Ī: My own feeling is that this is the result of the way the narrative is constructed. Q: The narrative feels more like a fable or a remembered dream. So, yes, I mined a lot of my own background for this novel. Growing up, I lived in many small towns, and I wanted to capture the essence of those places, both for the benefit of the reader and, I suppose, to indulge my weakness for nostalgia. Everything before seemed simple, and, afterward, everything so terribly complex. We’re about to step out of adolescence and into manhood, and the crossing over is sharp, significant, and full of deep emotion. For boys-maybe it’s the same for girls, I don’t know-that period in our lives is an important threshold. How personal to you are the memories of 1961 in small town Minnesota?Ī: One of the main motivations for writing Ordinary Grace was the opportunity to explore memories, emotions, and experiences out of my own life when I was, essentially, the age of the story’s narrator, thirteen-year-old Frank Drum. While it’s set in 1961, it doesn’t in any way seem like a period piece or an historical novel. Q: One of the things I found most interesting about this book was the voice.

His new novel, Ordinary Grace, is an extraordinary leap – a deepening of previous work.

As long as I’ve known him, I’ve been a fan of his work.

I’ve known Kent since he invited himself to the store when his first novel, Iron Lake, was published in 1998.

Other books by the author of ordinary grace