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Published Jan 2011
320 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Paperback Original. After years of indie-label exile, folk singer Cyrus Harper returns to Apogee, Missouri, to tend to his mother. But the musical and haunted world of his past is morphing into just another strip of middle America, corrupted with pawn shops, meth labs, Clear Channel radio, and - if Cyrus's brother has his way - a golfer's paradise. As news of a murderess in the woods confounds the memories of his sister gone missing long ago, this prodigal son is drawn deeper into the cave - riddled realm of stalwarts and misfits he knew in his youth. What he discovers there will change everything.
A phantasmagoric tale of American music set during the crucible of its changing industry, Miss Me When I'm Gone plumbs our storied melodies for their essential purpose-to mine the soul for the longing, the passion, the love and rage that drive us.
"Though some readers will find the material stretched too thin, others will appreciate Stephens's determination to comprehend our darkest natures and motivations, a mission accomplished with a rueful swagger." - Publishers Weekly
"Stephens' voice has the clarity of an aged banjo, and resonates like a catchy sing-along. An enchanting success." - Booklist
"Glib fatalism and self-conscious prose obscure a potential talent." - Kirkus
"Miss Me When I'm Gone is a lavishly written, vividly imagined, and wholly compelling work of fiction. I was spellbound. Often, in fact, I was in awe." - Tim O'Brien
"Lost and living by their wits, Philip Stephens' wise and foolish people drift along the hardscrabble edges of America, some trying to escape the past, some to reclaim it. Miss Me When I'm Gone mixes the barbed language of Denis Johnson with the eternal verities of roots music. This is a rich and beautiful debut." - Stewart O'Nan
"Philip Stephens is an uncommon writer: lyrical, frank, gothic by turns, his prose draws us into uncharted worlds and minds. He transforms small-town Missouri into a mythical landscape, peopled by lonely misfits of Faulknerian proportions. Miss Me When I'm Gone is a novel you will never forget." - Claire Messud
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Philip Stephens lives with his wife and sons in Kansas City, Missouri, where he plays his great-grandfather's fiddle and a Martin HD-28. His poetry collection, The Determined Days, was a finalist for the PEN Center USA West Literary Award. His work has appeared in The Oxford American, Southwest Review, and Bomb, among other publications, as well as in Da Capo Best Music Writing 2004. This is his first novel.
The Flower Sisters
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