Als de hoofdpersoon, een fervent jager, in het Chopping-district komt wonen, stuit hij bij zijn jacht naar korhoenders toevallig op een verlaten en halfverwoeste boerderij: Steenstad. Op datzelfde ogenblik staat hij oog in oog met Banger. Banger is een afstotelijke vijftiger, die alleen om zijn uitmuntende talent als jager en kenner van het jachtgebied door iedereen wordt gerespecteerd. Banger ontwijkt vragen over Steenstad. Toch krijgt de hoofdpersoon beetje bij beetje het gruwelijke verhaal over Steenstad en zijn bewoners te horen. Een verhaal dat sterk verbonden blijkt met Bangers leven.
From the author of The Shipping News comes a collection of short stories inspired by the harsh and unforgiving landscape of Wyoming. Throughout, Annie Proulx invests these stories with an intelligence and black humour that transforms them into something new and surprising. In one story, a slight young man defies his mother's insults to become a rodeo star, while in another, an octogenarian finds himself drawn back to the ranch that he quit decades before — against his better judgement. Elsewhere, Proulx demonstrates her taste for the macabre in a grisly tale of bad weather, gambling and amputation set a hundred years ago. And in ‘ Brokeback Mountain ’, Proulx changes gear once again to describe the unexpected love that flowers between two cowboys as they struggle with the elements in some extremely inhospitable terrain. Inventive, compassionate and wildly funny, these marvellous stories explore the unbreakable bond between a people and their land, and will delight Proulx's fans everywhere. Contents: - The Half-Skinned Steer - The Mud Below - Job History - The Blood Bay - People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water - The Bunchgrass Edge of the World - Pair a Spurs - A Lonely Coast - The Governors of Wyoming - 55 Miles to the Gas Pump - Brokeback Mountain
""Troy meant one thing only to the men gathered here, as it did to their commanders. Troy was a dream of wealth; and if the wind continued the dream would crumble."" As the harsh wind holds the Greek fleet trapped in the straits at Aulis, frustration and political impotence turn into a desire for the blood of a young and innocent woman blood that will appease the gods and allow the troops to set sail. And when Iphigeneia, Agamemnon's beloved daughter, is brought to the coast under false pretences, and when a knife is fashioned out of the finest and most precious of materials, it looks as if the ships will soon be on their way. But can a father really go to these lengths to secure political victory, and can a daughter willingly give up her life for the worldly ambitions of her father? Throwing off the heroic values we expect of them, Barry Unsworth's mythic characters embrace the political ethos of the twenty-first century and speak in words we recognize as our own. The blowhard Odysseus warns the men to not "marginalize" Agamemnon and to "strike while the bronze is hot." High-sounding principles clash with private motives, and dark comedy ensues. Here is a novel that stands the world on its head."
Mabel Stark was one of the most famous women of her time, the centre-ring finale act of the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus in the 1920s and 1930s when circus was the most popular form of entertainment in North America.
Een lelijke, onhandige man probeert na de dood van zijn vrouw met zijn twee dochters en een excentrieke tante een nieuw leven op te bouwen in Newfoundland, het land waar zijn grootouders vandaan komen.
