Staggerford

Staggerford PDF Author: Jon Hassler
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307779602
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
The classic novel of a small Minnesota town—and of one school teacher who calls it home This utterly charming, deeply poignant debut remains perhaps the signature achievement of beloved novelist Jon Hassler—once hailed by The New York Times as “a writer good enough to restore your faith in fiction.” It’s the story of a week in the life of Miles Pruitt, a thirty-five-year-old bachelor who teaches high school English in Staggerford, Minnesota. And though it is only a week, it’s an extraordinary week, filled with the poetry of living, the sweetness of expectation, and the glory of surprise that can change a life forever. Praise for Staggerford “Witty, intelligent, compassionate . . . an absolutely smashing first novel.”—The Plain Dealer “You’ll remember it for a long time.”—The Minneapolis Tribune “One of the year’s truly freshly conceived and carried out novels, one whose not always so gentle ironies address themselves to a broader range of life than is to be found in Staggerford, Minnesota.”—The Kansas City Star “A thoroughly convincing X-ray vision of small-town life . . . so sincere, so true, so honest with itself, and so very, very funny that a reader often has to wipe the tears out of the corners of his eyes before he can—as he must—read on.”—The Houston Post “Very entertaining . . . [Miles is] one of the most likable protagonists of modern fiction.”—The Pittsburgh Press “Staggerford, Minnesota, is a town out of control. It is as weird and convoluted as any lover of comic fiction could wish.”—Boston Herald American

Staggerford

Staggerford PDF Author: Jon Hassler
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307779602
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Get Book Here

Book Description
The classic novel of a small Minnesota town—and of one school teacher who calls it home This utterly charming, deeply poignant debut remains perhaps the signature achievement of beloved novelist Jon Hassler—once hailed by The New York Times as “a writer good enough to restore your faith in fiction.” It’s the story of a week in the life of Miles Pruitt, a thirty-five-year-old bachelor who teaches high school English in Staggerford, Minnesota. And though it is only a week, it’s an extraordinary week, filled with the poetry of living, the sweetness of expectation, and the glory of surprise that can change a life forever. Praise for Staggerford “Witty, intelligent, compassionate . . . an absolutely smashing first novel.”—The Plain Dealer “You’ll remember it for a long time.”—The Minneapolis Tribune “One of the year’s truly freshly conceived and carried out novels, one whose not always so gentle ironies address themselves to a broader range of life than is to be found in Staggerford, Minnesota.”—The Kansas City Star “A thoroughly convincing X-ray vision of small-town life . . . so sincere, so true, so honest with itself, and so very, very funny that a reader often has to wipe the tears out of the corners of his eyes before he can—as he must—read on.”—The Houston Post “Very entertaining . . . [Miles is] one of the most likable protagonists of modern fiction.”—The Pittsburgh Press “Staggerford, Minnesota, is a town out of control. It is as weird and convoluted as any lover of comic fiction could wish.”—Boston Herald American

The Staggerford Flood

The Staggerford Flood PDF Author: Jon Hassler
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1440651000
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
In The Staggerford Flood, Jon Hassler brings back Agatha McGee and reunites other favorite characters from his award-winning Staggerford novels. When a flood hits Staggerford and neighboring towns, Agatha McGee's house on the highest hill in town becomes a refuge for seven female neighbors, friends, and former students for three days and three nights. This deluge of old and new friends—as well as a new young priest who thinks Agatha has become a bit too zealous about morality—helps to restore Agatha's own very distinctive spark.

The New Woman

The New Woman PDF Author: Jon Hassler
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780452287648
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Since 1977, Jon Hassler’s Staggerford series has entranced readers with its funny and charming depiction of life in small-town America. The New Woman is his latest visit to this Minnesota hamlet. At the age of eighty-eight, Agatha McGee has grudgingly moved out of her house on River Street and into the Sunset Senior Apartments. She’s not happy about giving up her independence, and Sunset Senior’s arts and crafts activities and weekly excursions to the Blue Sky Casino are hardly a consolation. Meanwhile two of her close friends pass away, her nephew Frederick is drifting into depression, and a kidnapped little girl has suddenly appeared on her doorstep. With characteristic poise and dignity, Agatha takes on her problems and finds that the bonds of friendship and family are still the key to happiness at any age. Affectionate and life-affirming, The New Woman is another delightful trip to a town with a soul as real as rural America itself.

The Staggerford Murders and Nancy Clancy's Nephew

The Staggerford Murders and Nancy Clancy's Nephew PDF Author: Jon Hassler
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101157461
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
Filled with his trademark humor and warmth, Jon Hassler’s The Staggerford Murders and The Life and Death of Nancy Clancy’s Nephew offer a welcome return to the town that has captivated readers for years. In The Staggerford Murders, residents of the Ransford Hotel "solve" the nine- year-old murder of esteemed Staggerford citizen Neddy Nichols and the disappearance of his widow, Blanche. Hassler’s wry humor is in full force as this wonderful tale unfolds. In the more poignant and bittersweetThe Life and Death of Nancy Clancy’s Nephew, elderly W.D. Nestor finds his loneliness dispelled by his friendship with a young Staggerford boy, but it is a sudden visit to his one hundred-year-old Aunt Nancy that provides the peace he has always been looking for.

Four Miles to Pinecone

Four Miles to Pinecone PDF Author: Jon Hassler
Publisher: Fawcett
ISBN: 0307802035
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
He was an eyewitness to a crime that his best friend committed. . . . “It all started the day school ended” That was when my English teacher decided not to flunk me—if I wrote a long story during my summer vacation. My name’s Tom Barry. I’m sixteen, and I really do want to be a junior next year at the high school in St. Paul where I live. But with my full-time job at Mr. Kerr’s grocery store, I didn’t think I’d have enough time to do it. But by the end of the week, the paper seemed small potatoes. You see, Mr. Kerr’s store was broken into—and my best friend Mouse was involved. I saw him, but I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to be a fink. I kept mum because it was right about then that I was invited to stay at my uncle’s resort near Pinecone. It’s a real neat place in the Minnesota woods, and I figured I would cool out there. And then I found that they have crime just like in St. Paul—but this time the stakes were much higher. Suddenly, my life was on the line. . . .

A Green Journey

A Green Journey PDF Author: Jon Hassler
Publisher: Center Point
ISBN: 9781602856677
Category : Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Sixty–something Agatha McGee is feisty, intelligent, honorable, quick witted, hot–tempered, and nurturing. A problem at the school where she teaches propels her to leave America for Ireland and look for the pen pal with whom she has corresponded for years. It may be a little late in the game, but for once in her life Agatha follows her heart in search of a dream. Along the way, she not only discovers people she would never have allowed herself to know before, but she learns through experience, at long last, that love is unpredictable, unstoppable, and never appears as we dream it will.

Good People-- from an Author's Life

Good People-- from an Author's Life PDF Author: Jon Hassler
Publisher: Loyola Press
ISBN: 9780829416367
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
"In Good People, celebrated novelist Jon Hassler examines goodness with warmth, humor, and poignancy by exploring the many meaningful relationships that have enriched his life. He describes his parents and grandparents, childhood playmates, fellow teachers and writers - including the renowned fiction writer J.F. Powers - and shows how the goodness in these people has inspired the good people in his fiction. Written in the same engaging style as his novels, Hassler's stories reveal much of his own background, including his strong Catholic faith and the places that have shaped his writing."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Dear James

Dear James PDF Author: Jon Hassler
Publisher: Loyola Classics
ISBN: 9780829424300
Category : Interpersonal relations
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Dear James, by best-selling author Jon Hassler, is a delightful exploration of the themes of loss and spiritual renewal. Agatha Magee, the feisty, quick-witted, fiercely Catholic doyenne of Staggerford, Minnesota, confronts crises large and small in her 70th year: she is forced to retire from her beloved teaching; she's crushed to learn that her Irish pen pal, James, is a priest; and she's faced with evils ranging from Irish terrorism to the petty jealousies that tear apart life in a small town. John Hassler's Dear James is a poignant reminder that life is full of sorrow and loss, but also of joy and new beginnings.

My Staggerford Journal

My Staggerford Journal PDF Author: Jon Hassler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
"April 3, 1976. Completed Staggerford this morning at 9:15. . . . The most satisfying thing I've done since playing high school football." In the spring of 1975, an unknown Minnesota teacher named Jon Hassler decided to take a sabbatical and fulfill his lifelong dream of writing a novel. A year later, Hassler typed the final page of Staggerford--a book that has won a cherished place as a classic novel of small-town life in America. Now, many years and many novels later, Hassler shares the private story of Staggerford's creation as recorded in the vividly revealing journals he kept while writing the book. Hassler's My Staggerford Journal is at once the narrative of a work of art struggling to be born and the portrait of a creative mind in the throes of a life-altering breakthrough. Day by day, we peer over Hassler's shoulder as he breathes life into his creation--realizing with a sudden flash of insight that his hero Miles Pruitt should not have a wife, shaping and reshaping the character of the Bonewoman, heeding the good "advice" of the spirited Miss Agatha McGee, stumbling on the perfect title. Here, too, is the moving account of the novelist's inner doubts and comic missteps, his lonely triumphs and jarring sacrifices. My Staggerford Journal affords a rare glimpse into the imagination of one of the best-loved masters of contemporary American fiction. Jon Hassler's many fans, as well as all readers interested in seeing the creative process at work, will be spellbound by this wonderful book.

Days Like Smoke

Days Like Smoke PDF Author: Jon Hassler
Publisher: Afton Historical Society Press
ISBN: 9781736102114
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
"Here is the story of Jon Hassler's early years. His poignant remembrance of family and friends, of youthful calamities and triumphs, show what shaped him and opened his path to become one of Minnesota's best-loved and iconic writers. Memoirs are written from the vantage point of age. Here, his close examination of memory-what endures and why-unfold the pivotal moments of his growing up. Family, friends, new neighborhoods and old, questions of faith and doubt-all had deep meaning, he comes to see. In this book, Hassler also confirms William Faulkner's opinion: 'The past is never dead. It's not even past'"--