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Published Jun 2013
352 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Originally published in 1982 to wide acclaim, The Good Son remains Craig Nova's undisputed masterpiece. This classic explored the complicated entanglements of fathers and sons, expressed in the story of nouveau-riche father Pop Mackinnon, who used his wealth to manipulate his son Chip into the 'right' kind of marriage upon the young man's return from World War II.
Chip eventually gave up the love of his life and married to secure his future - and what were the consequences of that decision? All the Dead Yale Men answers that question in telling the story of Frank Mackinnon, son of Chip, a prosecutor in Boston with a happy marriage and a daughter set to follow his footsteps into law school. Chip's death throws Frank into his family's legacy, where he must contend with the inheritance of the Mackinnon's beloved land and a bevy of secrets that dates back three generations. And when Frank's daughter Pia falls under the sway of local bad boy Aurlon Miller, his grief over his father's death triggers the family legacy of social standing and manipulation to begin anew, leading Frank to the darkest edges of what a father will do to protect the ones he loves.
All the Dead Yale Men examines the end of an era, how privilege and inheritance often crumble in the face of the modern world, a story enriched by the setting and mythology of Boston and its surroundings. The novel not only moves the Mackinnon's story forward but will recast historical elements of the classic novel as well, heralding the arrival of a new American classic.
"Starred Review. Nova's scenic evocation of Boston is spot-on, as is his emotional detailing of the fragile intricacies of family." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. This gripping and intelligent chronicle of love, legacy, and betrayal (the title may suggest a genre mystery, which this surely isn't) captures a complex clan entangled in a questionable moral universe. Nova's Mackinnons, both here and in The Good Son, leave their edgy mark on the modern American literary landscape. - Booklist
"Nova is a gifted writer of quotidian violence: car wrecks, suicides, animal poisonings, murder. The macabre steadies his prose. Connoisseurs of this sort of not-quite hard-boiled fiction will find much to admire here." - Kirkus
This information about All the Dead Yale Men was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Craig Nova is the award-winning author of twelve novels and one autobiography. His writing has appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine, and Men's Journal, among others. He has received an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of the Arts and Letters and is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2005 he was named Class of 1949 Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.
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