Sidle Creek
Sidle Creek by Jolene McIlwain, published by Melville House on May 16, 2023, is a reprint edition comprising 256 pages. This collection of short stories offers a tender and truthful exploration of a small town in the bruised, mined, and timbered hills of Appalachia, focusing on the lives of its residents. McIlwain presents a nuanced narrative that interrogates the myths and stereotypes surrounding mining, mill, and farming communities, showcasing her distinctive voice in fiction.
Readers will find stories set in familiar local spots such as diners, dive bars, and town halls, where themes of class, work, health, and trauma unfold alongside unexpected human connections. The writing captures the wild beauty of the natural world, which serves as both a source of livelihood and a subject of vulnerability due to resource exploitation. Sidle Creek invites readers to engage with the complexities of family life and the dynamics of small-town existence, making it a significant addition to contemporary fiction.
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A NPR Book of the Year
A Library Journal Best Books of 2023
A Library Journal 2023 Best Book Covers of the Year
“Sidle Creek is one of the best story collections I’ve read in a long time.” – Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author of Serena
Set in the bruised, mined, and timbered hills of Appalachia in western Pennsylvania, Sidle Creek is a tender, truthful exploration of a small town and the people who live there, told by a brilliant new voice in fiction.
In Sidle Creek, McIlwain skillfully interrogates the myths and stereotypes of the mining, mill, and farming towns where she grew up. With stories that take place in diners and dive bars, town halls and bait shops, McIlwain’s writing explores themes of class, work, health, and trauma, and the unexpected human connections of small, close-knit communities. All the while, the wild beauty of the natural world weaves its way in, a source of the town’s livelihood – and vulnerable to natural resource exploitation.
With an alchemic blend of taut prose, gorgeous imagery, and deep sensitivity for all of the living beings within its pages, Sidle Creek will sit snugly on bookshelves between Annie Proulx, Joy Williams, and Louise Erdrich.
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