Black Sun: A Novel

By Edward Abbey

Now in a Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition, the timeless novel that chronicles a reckless romance in the wilderness, from Edward Abbey, one of America’s foremost defenders of the natural environment.

Black Sun is a bittersweet love story involving an iconoclastic forest ranger and a freckle-faced “American princess” half his age. Like Lady Chatterley’s lover, he initiates her into the rites of sex and the stark, secret harmonies of his wilderness kingdom. She, in turn, awakens in him the pleasure of love. Then she mysteriously disappears, plunging him into desolation.

Black Sun is a singular novel in Abbey’s repertoire, a romantic story of a solitary man’s passion for the outdoors and for a woman who is his wilderness muse.

“Like most honest novels, Black Sun is partly autobiographical, mostly invention, and entirely true. The voice that speaks in this book is the passionate voice of the forest,” Abbey writes, “the madness of desire, and the joy of love, and the anguish of final loss.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9780062323750

Edward Abbey

Edward Abbey (1927-1989) was born in Home, Pennsylvania. He received graduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of New Mexico, and attended the University of Edinburgh. He worked for a time as a forest ranger and was a committed naturalist and a fierce environmentalist; such was his anger, eloquence, and action on the subject that he has become a heroic, almost mythic figure to a whole host of environmental groups and literally millions of readers. Abbey's career as a writer spanned four decades and encompassed a variety of genres, from essays to novels. One of his early successes was the novel The Brave Cowboy, which was made into the movie Lonely Are the Brave. His 1968 collection of essays, Desert Solitaire, became a necessary text for the new environmentalists, like the group 'Earth First,' and his rambunctious 1975 novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, a picaresque tale of environmental guerillas, which launched a national cult movement and sold over half-a-million copies. Other titles include The Journey Home, Fool's Progress, and the posthumously released Hayduke Lives!

Reviews for Black Sun

[whitmelb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Using the real Gold Train story, James Twining's story advances the idea that a portion of the Gold Train was originally removed and hidden in a spot other than the tunnel in Austria. His hero, Tom Kirk solves several puzzles to find the portion and his search takes him from Europe to the US, to Russia and finally to a small town in Germany.

[shannonkearns · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

a pretty decent yarn. fast paced and a good mystery. i thought there were a few too many characters (the story switches between different character's pov throughout) but mostly a fun book. a good beach read.

[pinerat · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Clues on some old paintings by an unknown and mediocre artist from WWII lead former art thief Tom Kirk; his partner, Archie; and friend Dominique on a trip around Europe looking for the legendary Amber Room. They try to stay ahead of Tom's father's former partner, Renwick, who is still part of the art underworld and also trying to track down the Amber Room. It is a page-turner, and kept me up late for several nights running, as I wanted to see how things turned out! Did the Amber Room get found? If so, was it by Tom and friends, or Renwick and company?

[tadad_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The plot moved along reasonably well. The characters were fine, though I probably would have benefited from reading the previous book first. The ending was a bit of a disappointment. Typical beach fare for me.

[bcquinnsmom · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book #2 featuring Twining's hero, Tom Kirk, a now former professional thief, who along with his pal Archie have gone legit in the antiques business. If you've read the Double Eagle by the same author, this one is much better.A brief synopsis with no spoilers:As the book opens, Tom is in Prague talking to a rabbi of a synagogue there about some terrible defacing done to the inside and outside of the building. Everything has been graffiti'd with Nazi markings, and there was something taken -- a painting by an artist named Bellak. This puts Tom and Archie onto a very strange case that dates back to before and during WWII involving stolen art. There's also a good twist toward the end of the story.I had a lot of trouble putting this one down, and did so only grudingly when I had to. It was never dull...something was always going on, and the mysteries continued to deepen as the book went along. Add to this the plot twist at the end, and you've got one fast-paced suspense read that doesn't let up. The characters of Tom and Archie are more real in this one than in the previous book, and Twining has really come along since writing The Double Eagle. The Black Sun is one of the more suspenseful books I've read this year, and I'm looking forward to another Tom Kirk story!