Media Center: ‘Benediction’ by Kent Haruf

WHO: Kent Haruf

WHAT: BENEDICTION, a novel

WHEN: Published by Knopf February 26, 2013

WHERE: Set in Colorado.

WHY:
“A story elegant in its simple telling and remarkable in its authentic capture of universal human emotions.
“The last, dying days of old Dad Lewis supply the framework for this sober yet reverberant novel.
“Dad owns a store in a small Colorado town, and his terminal illness draws out the compassion of his adult daughter, whom Dad wants to take over his business upon his imminent passing, and sparks an arousal in his long-devoted wife to seek some degree of resolution to an unhealed family wound. Dad’s closing days also stir emotions in other town residents who are in Dad’s realm of acquaintances, including the girl who moved in next door to stay with her grandmother and whose memories of her deceased mother remain raw; the new minister in town who suddenly rebels against the reluctance of his congregation to think about new ideas; and a mother and daughter, the former advanced in years and the latter now in middle age, who still confront traits in each other
that they would just as soon not see.”
—Brad Hooper, in a starred review for BOOKLIST

“Haruf isn’t interested in the trendy or the urban.
As he once said, he writes about regular, ordinary, sort of elemental characters…Separately and together, all the characters are trying to live­­—and in Dad’s case, to die—with dignity, a struggle Haruf renders with delicacy and skill.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Media Resources:
About the book | Author bio | Download the jacket or the author photo| Listen to the RH Audiobook

Publicist for this title:
Gabrielle Brooks | 212-572-2152 | gbrooks@randomhouse.com