Education of Chauncey Doolittle, The

"This fine novel should have an honored place on the same shelf as the novels of Andrew Lytle and Wendell Berry." --Ron Rash, award-winning poet, short story writer, and author of Saints at the River

"THE EDUCATION OF CHAUNCEY DOOLITTLE is the perfect companion for the December fireside and the July streamside, a book to be sipped and never gulped" --Fred Chappell, author of I Am One of You Forever

"Kibler has provided readers with another refreshing stroll down a breezy country lane." --James Cantrell, author of How Celtic Culture Invented Southern Literature

An eloquent advocate for the redemptive values of the agrarian society, James Kibler is a masterful storyteller with an uncanny talent for making his characters come alive through dialogue. Whether they are farmers, fishermen, or shopkeepers, Kibler's characters mind the land as well as their ancestors. In this expressive novel, Kibler presents the daily life of Chauncey Doolittle and his companions, small-town fellows who gather at a country store to wrestle with the powerful forces of modernity, the pull of the past, and their deep affection for one another and the land they call home.

Spanning a cycle of four seasons, this third book in the Clay Bank County Series brings protagonist Chauncey Doolittle into his own as a poet and student of Latin, language, and the wonderfully rich humanity around him. Told with gentle humor and warmth, this perceptive novel is as much a study of the landscape itself as it is a tribute to those men and women who live in solidarity with the land. A collection of Chauncey's poems follows at the end of the work, providing a softly cadenced close to a bittersweet story of endurance, remembrance, and transition.