Hoffman, William

293 p. ; 24 cm

Ein neues, actiongeladenes Mystery-Abenteuer von Markus Heitz. Lies jetzt die kostenlose 80-seitige Pilotfolge "DOORS - Der Beginn" und bereite dich auf eine spannende Reise vor. Am Ende der Pilotfolge wirst du vor die Wahl gestellt: drei Türen, drei Bücher - durch welche Tür sollen die Helden treten? Greife zu dem DOORS-Band deiner Wahl und erfahre, was hinter den Symbolen steckt. "DOORS X - Dämmerung", "DOORS ? - Kolonie" und "DOORS ! - Blutfeld" - drei Romane, drei parallele und eigenständige Geschichten, drei Möglichkeiten. Es liegt in deiner Hand.

For two hundred and fifty years, the LeBlancs of Tidewater Virginia - landed, rich, and proud of it - have been celebrating their French Huguenot ancestry. Each year, over an extravagant lunch and in period costume dress, they relive the beginnings of the LeBlanc line, reminding everyone of their rise from meager beginnings to a position of great stature, wealth, and privilege. But this year's celebration goes horribly wrong. At the stroke of one, a deafening explosion brings down the massive plantation house columns, crushing every member of the family present. As the dust settles, all fingers point to the black sheep of the family, the youngest brother, Charles LeBlanc. Long estranged from his family and living in a makeshift cabin on a spit of land off the Chesapeake, Charley has managed to make more enemies than friends - he was dishonorably discharged from the army, and then served time in prison. Facing prison, if not execution, Charley takes off on the fugitive run of his life. With the police at his back, he makes his way through the mountains of West Virginia to find the real killer. What he didn't mean to discover were the even darker secrets about the LeBlanc blood.

William Hoffman is a master storyteller, and Follow Me Home reveals him at his inimitable best. In these eleven brilliantly observed, superbly crafted stories, he explores one of the most secret places of the human heart - the corner where we keep hidden the small and precious supply of whatever it is that lets us persist, and sometimes even triumph, in the face of life's inescapable diminishments and losses. In Hoffman's characters, the content of this inner reservoir varies greatly. For the hill farmer in "Abide with Me," it is a form of direct grace granted to him in a near-death vision. For the disabled veteran in "Night Sport," it is a bitter concoction of disillusionment and raw truth carried home from a distant war. For the quietly retired minister in "Sweet Armageddon," unexpectedly given a glimpse of the life he long ago forsook, it is a prayerful wish for annihilation. On a less apocalyptic scale, in the haunting "Points," a once-great horseman finds sustenance in a remembered world of elegance and courage - a world that, like his skills, is rapidly fading. In "Dancer," a bereft and lonely woman retreats into the music of her youth, birds becoming quarter notes that fill the sky. In "Expiation," a self-made executive after many years comes to terms with his own childhood, even though it means ending the lie on which his marriage is built. And in "Coals," a maid and cook calls on her own reserves of spirit to bring her employer a renewal of life. Set in the small towns, cities, hills, and seascapes of Virginia - territory Hoffman knows as well as any writer ever has - the stories of Follow Me Home reveal to us men and women we know and care about, for in their struggles, win or lose, we recognize ourselves.

Claytor Lewis Carson III flees his sleazy, dishonest, obessessive, and sexually driven lifestyle in southern California and withdraws into virtual isolation in the Cumberland Mountains of eastern Kentucky. He "seeks purification by living a simple life and by sweating from his system every ounce of modern society's excesses ... Only the threat to Vestil Skank -- a wild, lost unloved youth who longs to escape the killing meanness of Crow County -- is strong enough to crack Claytor's isolation and draw him back ... into a courageous and self-sacrificing humanity."--Jacket.

The minister of a small town in Virginia is accused of attempted rape of the wife of the town's richest citizen, a liquor salesman. A widower who wants only to raise his son quietly is pestered into investigating... with surprising results. Novel by the author of The Trumpet Unblown.