Ebook520 pages8 hours
Cloudmaker
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
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About this ebook
A teenager in Depression-era Montana with finds danger and adventure with a gangster’s watch in this coming-of-age tale.
From the nationally bestselling author of Painted Horses, Malcolm Brooks returns with a soaring, spirited novel set during the summer of Amelia Earhart’s final flight—a tale of American ingenuity and optimism set against the backdrop of a deepening Great Depression . . .
The summer of 1937 will be a turning point for fourteen-year-old Houston “Huck” Finn. When he and a friend find a dead body in a local creek, a rare Lindbergh flight watch on its wrist, it seems like a sign. Huck is building his own airplane, a fact he has concealed from his mother. That summer also marks the arrival of his cousin Annelise, sent to live with the family under mysterious circumstances. As it turns out, she has had flying lessons—another sign. As Huck’s airplane takes shape, so does his burgeoning understanding of the world, including the battle over worldliness vs. godliness that has split Annelise from her family, and, in a quieter way, divides Huck’s family too. And meanwhile, there’s the matter of the watch, which it turns out the dead man’s cohort of bank robbers would very much like back.
In Brooks’ trademark “lush, breathtaking prose” (San Francisco Chronicle on Painted Horses) and with a winking nod to the Sam Clemens who inspired its hero’s nickname, Cloudmaker is a boisterous, heartfelt novel that brings to life the idealism, inventiveness, traditionalism, and deep contradictions of the American spirit.
Praise for Cloudmaker
“A sweeping yet personal coming-of-age story. . . . Evocative . . . in pitch-perfect dialect that will immerse readers firmly in Brooks’s beloved American West.” —Shelf Awareness
“With a nod to Ivan Doig’s straightforward folksy style, this impressive second novel . . . tells an earnest, heartfelt family story with laugh-out-loud humor, deep-seated family conflicts, and distressing coming-of-age crises. Enthusiastically recommended.” —Library Review (starred review)
“Tender friendships and passionate pursuits combine in Cloudmaker—a rich, evocative, soaring novel rooted in particulars and populated with characters so nuanced and real you can’t help but admire and miss them long after you’ve turned the last page.” —Erin Lindsay McCabe, author of USA Today bestseller I Shall Be Near To You
“Epic in scope, beautifully crafted in its prose, and always—always—adoring of its cast of unforgettable characters, Cloudmaker is a stunner of a novel. A book that absolutely soars.” —Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Little Faith
From the nationally bestselling author of Painted Horses, Malcolm Brooks returns with a soaring, spirited novel set during the summer of Amelia Earhart’s final flight—a tale of American ingenuity and optimism set against the backdrop of a deepening Great Depression . . .
The summer of 1937 will be a turning point for fourteen-year-old Houston “Huck” Finn. When he and a friend find a dead body in a local creek, a rare Lindbergh flight watch on its wrist, it seems like a sign. Huck is building his own airplane, a fact he has concealed from his mother. That summer also marks the arrival of his cousin Annelise, sent to live with the family under mysterious circumstances. As it turns out, she has had flying lessons—another sign. As Huck’s airplane takes shape, so does his burgeoning understanding of the world, including the battle over worldliness vs. godliness that has split Annelise from her family, and, in a quieter way, divides Huck’s family too. And meanwhile, there’s the matter of the watch, which it turns out the dead man’s cohort of bank robbers would very much like back.
In Brooks’ trademark “lush, breathtaking prose” (San Francisco Chronicle on Painted Horses) and with a winking nod to the Sam Clemens who inspired its hero’s nickname, Cloudmaker is a boisterous, heartfelt novel that brings to life the idealism, inventiveness, traditionalism, and deep contradictions of the American spirit.
Praise for Cloudmaker
“A sweeping yet personal coming-of-age story. . . . Evocative . . . in pitch-perfect dialect that will immerse readers firmly in Brooks’s beloved American West.” —Shelf Awareness
“With a nod to Ivan Doig’s straightforward folksy style, this impressive second novel . . . tells an earnest, heartfelt family story with laugh-out-loud humor, deep-seated family conflicts, and distressing coming-of-age crises. Enthusiastically recommended.” —Library Review (starred review)
“Tender friendships and passionate pursuits combine in Cloudmaker—a rich, evocative, soaring novel rooted in particulars and populated with characters so nuanced and real you can’t help but admire and miss them long after you’ve turned the last page.” —Erin Lindsay McCabe, author of USA Today bestseller I Shall Be Near To You
“Epic in scope, beautifully crafted in its prose, and always—always—adoring of its cast of unforgettable characters, Cloudmaker is a stunner of a novel. A book that absolutely soars.” —Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Little Faith
Read more from Malcolm Brooks
Painted Horses: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Querencia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for Cloudmaker
Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
6 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Delightful book of a teenage boy and older girl cousin and his family. Sort of a boy genius, he proceeds to build an airplane with minimal expense and help from Dad and cousin who had flying lessons and a master mechanic. Many great plots within the story that makes the reader not want to put the book down or have it end.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It is 1937 and the world is crazy about Lindbergh. I loved the lyrical language of the book and Huck, the plane loving kid who figures out how to make a glider. Along with his cousin, Annelise who comes to visit his family in rural Montana for the summer, discover physical love. The most fun part is where Huck and some of his friends take on some bad guys and how they got the Model A engine for the plane. While not as engaging as the Montana writings of Ivan Doig, its an enjoyable book to read.
Book preview
Cloudmaker - Malcolm Brooks
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