A Prayer for the Dying
A Novel
10th Anniversary Edition
by Stewart O’Nan
Picador USA / Macmillan
www.picadorusa.com
June 1, 2009
ISBN 13: 978-0-312-42891-4
Price: $14.00 Trade Paperback
Historical fiction / Set in small town in Wisconsin, mid-1800s.
Coming in August – more details available soon! Picador USA and Midwest Connections will sponsor a Twitter Book Club discussion of A PRAYER FOR THE DYING. Read this novel now and join the discussion next month.
“The Best Book You’ve Never Read” Summer Selection
“The Best Book You’ve Never Read” is selected by Picador’s sales representatives as one of their favorite titles from Picador’s extensive backlist.
“A PRAYER FOR THE DYING reads like the amazing, unrelenting love child of Shirley Jackson and Cormac McCarthy. It’s twisted proof that God will do worse to test a faithful man than the devil would ever do to punish a sinner.”
– Chuck Palahniuk“A fine, terse novel about the circumstantial nature of evil and the terrible fragility of man.”
-Patrick McGrath, The New York Times Book Review“A new masterpiece of American literature.”
– Dennis Lehane, Entertainment Weekly“This is a magical, frightening book…. The lyricism of the natural descriptions, of the peace and beauty of the environment, lull the reader into an expansive sense of well-being, even as the insidious beat of unease creeps between the lines…. ‘Harrowing’ doesn’t begin to describe it.”
- T.C. Boyle, Entertainment Weekly“A masterful gothic novel… O’Nan’s narrative flows with seamless economy, pulling readers with ever-building dread, tiny doses of hope, and plain-spoken descriptions that reveal inner feelings even as they foreshadow events.”
- Chris Waddington, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, A Salon.com Book Award Winner, A Chicago Sun-Times Best Book of the Year, and more…
Buy this book from your favorite locally owned and operated Midwest independent bookseller! Click here for the new searchable directory of our member bookstores.
MBA Bookseller Information
A PRAYER FOR THE DYING is available from Macmillan, or you can order it from your preferred wholesaler. Be sure to contact your Macmillan sales rep for more information about this title. He/she can advise you about coop availability, too.
You also can purchase a 5-copy counter display with a “The Best Book You’ve Never Read” header card. See photo.
If you need more information about the book or author Stewart O’Nan, please be sure to let us know. O’Nan is not touring in the Midwest, but if you’d like to inquire about setting up a phoner with him, please contact James Meader, Director of Publicity, james.meader@picadorusa.com, phone 646-307-5632.
MBA Booksellers: earn up to $100 in rebates for promoting this book! See the marketing information and rebate form below.
Downloads
- Midwest Connections Rebate Form (PDF)
- Full-color sign/flyer (PDF)
- Full-color bookmark (PDF)
- Reading Group Guide (PDF)
- Picador USA’s press release (PDF)
- Author photo (JPG)
- Book photo (JPG)
- Counter Display photo (JPG)
- Midwest Connections Generic Display Materials
About the Book
“Stewart O’Nan is playing a different tune these days, perhaps a different instrument entirely, but let him proudly flaunt his virtuosity if his experiments lead to books like this slim, chilling volume so different from his last novel… a horror story of subtlety and elegance.”
–Helen Verongos, St. Louis Post-Dispatch“A Prayer for the Dying is a punch in the face of a book – a profoundly dark work that is not for the faint of heart, mind, or spirit. It’s a slight book of big ideas in which Stewart O’Nan’s massive talent shares center stage with his penchant for unrelentingly dark – and often downright brutal – subjects and themes…. O’Nan, a novelist who seems to know more about human beings than any one person should, fashions a novel that seems to be a cross between Stephen Crane and Stephen King…. [O'Nan] is certainly among the strongest American writers of his generation. ”
–Peter McCarthy, The Washington Post”A powerful novel… chilling.”
–Daniel Zwerdling, NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered
Set in Friendship, Wisconsin, just after the Civil War, A Prayer for the Dying tells of a horrible epidemic that is suddenly and gruesomely killing the town’s residents and setting off a terrifying paranoia. Jacob Hansen, Friendship’s sheriff, undertaker, and pastor, is soon overwhelmed. Torn between his loyalty to his family, his faith in God, and his terror of this vicious disease, Jacob struggles to preserve his sanity amid the fear and anguish around him.
Dark, poetic, and chilling, A Prayer for the Dying was published to acclaim in 1999, marking a significant step forward in Stewart O’Nan’s brilliant career, and we are very proud to promote this reissue on the occasion of its 10th Anniversary.
“A sad and chilling novel… It will make readers shudder and think and marvel at a writer’s creation of an alien world that seems so real.”
–Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today”Mr. O’Nan, a young writer of unusual range and variety, is a master of voices and the place they resonate from, of human rhythms and the universal rhythms they cut across.”
–Richard Eder, The New York Times”Grabs you at the start and never lets up. O’Nan’s novel is beautiful testimony to profound truths.” –Dan Cryer, Newsday
”Full of rare power and terse, economic prose.” –Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times
”My hands-down favorite book of the year was Stewart O’Nan’s A Prayer for the Dying. This novel of post-Civil War plague moves with the steady throb of a drumbeat and achieves a level of intensity and real-life horror Stephen King could only dream about.”
–Scott Eyman, The Palm Beach Post”O’Nan’s tour de force develops a mesmerizing intensity.” –Publishers Weekly
”Stewart O’Nan’s writing has been likened to the macabre Edgar Allan Poe, with the religious fanaticism of Flannery O’Conner. In A Prayer for the Dying, he gives us the best of both worlds… A haunting story.”
–Mary Isca, The Grand Rapids Press“For literature addicts, this is pure treasure… O’Nan is one of the finest writers of his generation… He measures words as a poet does, deploying them judiciously and for maximum impact.”
–Deborah Hornblow, The Hartford Courant”Ambitious and cleverly devised… a gripping story.”
–Dennis Loy Johnson, Orlando Sentinel”Gripping… a book of spare, clear-eyed prose. Its voice is at once humble and infused with quiet conviction.”
–Tricia Sprinstubb, The Plain Dealer“[A] deeply unsettling and sophisticated horror story… O’Nan transforms this seemingly conventional tale about a good man struggling against terrible circumstances into a brilliant exploration of evil and solipsism. A small, gruesome literary gem.” –The Week
“Haunting… There’s no doubting this award-winning writer’s gift for the telling detail, the illuminating nuance that lifts a book from good to memorable.”
–David Kipen, San Francisco Chronicle
About the Author
STEWART O’NAN is the author of eleven novels, including Songs for the Missing and Snow Angels, a story collection, and two works of nonfiction. His previous novel, Last Night at the Lobster, was a national bestseller and was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was named one of the New York Public Library’s Books to Remember. Additionally, Granta named him one of the twenty Best Young American Novelists. O’Nan lives with his family in Avon, Connecticut.
MBA booksellers who attended our 2008 Trade Show Book & Author Dinner will remember Stewart O’Nan well as one of our guest speakers.
Author’s website: http://stewart-onan.com
Other Titles by Stewart O’Nan Available from Picador USA
SNOW ANGELS: A Novel
Picador Trade Paperback 978-0-312-42276-9 $14.00
Movie Tie-In Edition 978-0-312-42769-6 $14.00
“Haunting…a whole that’s much more than the sum of its parts…. Moving, beautifully constructed, morally complex.”
-The Washington Post Book World
THE GOOD WIFE
Picador Trade Paperback 978-0-312-42501-2 $15.00
”One of the most authentic contemporary political novels I’ve read by an American writer…. [O'Nan] creates a mood so intense that, as long as the novel lasts, the reader can’t escape it.”
–Nell Freudenberger, The New York Times Book Review
THE NIGHT COUNTRY: A Novel
Picador Trade Paperback 978-0-312-42407-7 $15.00
”Chilling…By juxtaposing the angst of teenage years with the hoarier dread of middle age, O’Nan has put his finger on how frightening and swift is the hand of fate.”
--John Freeman, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Midwest Connections Marketing Plans
- $100 in REBATES from MBA for display photos, ads, features in your newsletters, e-newsletters, and on your store website, and using this book with your book clubs and reading groups – print out the REBATE FORM above and follow instructions.
- Contact the publisher to inquire about phoners with the author.
- Banners and Midwest Connections page for the book on the MBA website.
- Flyer/sign PDF file and other materials provided by the publisher.
- Reading copies of A Prayer for the Dying available from Picador USA and MBA – contact the MBA office if you need a book.
- Print ad you can run in your local paper – earn a rebate from MBA for your ad!
- Midwest Connections stickers, shelf-talkers, signs, bookmarks for in-store displays – earn a display rebate, too.
