An Unfinished Life
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  • Published: 15 March 2006
  • ISBN: 9780099472193
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $39.99

An Unfinished Life

Formats & editions
EBook
1 Jul 2010
Audiobook
7 Jul 2011
Paperback
15 Mar 2006
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'Imagine the spirit of Hemingway reborn in the soul of a ranch-owner's son in Wyoming' - Esquire

Jean Gilkyson is living in Iowa with yet another brutal boyfriend when she realises this kind of life has to stop, especially for her nine-year-old daughter, Griff. But the only place they can run to is Ishawooa, Wyoming, where Jean's family are dead and her father-in-law, the only person who could take them in, wishes she was too.

Einar Gilkyson blames Jean for the accident that took his son's life, and has chosen to go on living simply because without him his oldest friend, Mitch, wouldn't survive. Bound together like brothers since the Korean War, the intimacy between the two men has deepened after Mitch was crippled in a bear attack while Einar helplessly watched.

As Einar and Jean struggle with their memories, it is left to spirited and courageous Griff to turn their loss, wrath and recrimination into reconciliation, love, and, most importantly, a new life.
  • Published: 15 March 2006
  • ISBN: 9780099472193
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $39.99
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About the author

Mark Spragg

Mark Spragg is the author of Where Rivers Change Direction, a memoir that won the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, and the novels, An Unfinished Life and The Fruit of Stone.

Praise for An Unfinished Life

'Spragg's idiomatic prose hums with the raw poetry of the natural world' Observer

'Mark Spragg owns one of the truest and most original new voices in American letters' Kent Haruf, author of Plainsong

'Imagine the spirit of Hemingway reborn in the soul of a ranch-owner's son in Wyoming' Esquire

Elegantly and crisply written

Daily Telegraph

In this evocative novel, Spragg [uses] the grandeur of the American landscape to provide a haunting backdrop for the drama of his characters' lives

Daily Mail

A meticulously assembled and highly polished piece of work

Spectator

A beautifully crafted piece of fiction

Boston Globe