{"title":"Paula Saunders","description":"Paula Saunders grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota. She is a graduate of the Syracuse University creative writing program and was awarded a postgraduate Albert Schweitzer Fellowship at the State University of New York at Albany, under Schweitzer chair Toni Morrison. Her first book, The Distance Home, was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and named one of the best books of the year by Real Simple. She lives in California with her husband. They have two grown daughters.","products":[{"product_id":"the-distance-home-paperback","title":"The Distance Home - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"[Paula] Saunders skillfully illuminates how time heals certain wounds while deepening others. . . . A mediation of the violence of American ambition.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY \u003ci\u003eREAL SIMPLE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A deeply involving portrait of the American postwar family\" (Jennifer Egan) about sibling rivalry, dark secrets, and a young girl's struggle with freedom and artistic desire\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the years after World War II, the bleak yet beautiful plains of South Dakota still embody all the contradictions--the ruggedness and the promise--of the old frontier. This is a place where you can eat strawberries from wild vines, where lightning reveals a boundless horizon, where descendants of white settlers and native Indians continue to collide, and where, for most, there are limited options. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e René shares a home, a family, and a passion for dance with her older brother, Leon. Yet for all they have in common, their lives are on remarkably different paths. In contrast to René, a born spitfire, Leon is a gentle soul. The only boy in their ballet class, Leon silently endures often brutal teasing. Meanwhile, René excels at everything she touches, basking in the delighted gaze of their father, whom Leon seems to disappoint no matter how hard he tries. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e As the years pass, René and Leon's parents fight with increasing frequency--and ferocity. Their father--a cattle broker--spends more time on the road, his sporadic homecomings both yearned for and dreaded by the children. And as René and Leon grow up, they grow apart. They grasp whatever they can to stay afloat--a word of praise, a grandmother's outstretched hand, the seductive attention of a stranger--as René works to save herself, crossing the border into a larger, more hopeful world, while Leon embarks on a path of despair and self-destruction. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Tender, searing, and unforgettable, \u003ci\u003eThe Distance Home\u003c\/i\u003e is a profoundly American story spanning decades--a tale of haves and have-nots, of how our ideas of winning and losing, success and failure, lead us inevitably into various problems with empathy and caring for one another. It's a portrait of beauty and brutality in which the author's compassionate narration allows us to sympathize, in turn, with everyone involved. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A riveting family saga for the ages . . . one of the best books I've read in years.\"--Mary Karr \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Saunders' debut is an exquisite, searing portrait of family and of people coping with whatever life throws at them while trying to keep close to one another.\"--\u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50102775546079,"sku":"9780525508762","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/mWQkT7Te4S9780525508762.webp?v=1781087335"},{"product_id":"starting-from-here-hardcover","title":"Starting from Here - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Midwestern girl balances her dreams of becoming a dancer with the complications of growing up on her own, far from her working-class family, in this \"stirring, stunning novel about the desire for a certain kind of life and the quest to find it\" (Meg Wolitzer).\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"The sharp physicality of Paula Saunders's writing hooked me; it was utterly engrossing to feel chills, hunger and lust through the body of this young dancer.\"--Miranda July, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eAll Fours\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eShe could look in the mirror and see it all happening, everything she'd dreamed of, the potential everyone had seen in her blossoming right in front of her eyes, as if her spirit and flesh were merging, being born as one into light.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMore than anything, René wants to be a dancer. Eve, her mother, supports René despite the overwhelming financial burden and increasing tension her training places on the family. But one thing is clear: René's dreams are never going to come true in Rapid City, South Dakota, circa 1973. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSetting in motion a journey that will transform her from the inside out, René is sent to train alongside stick-thin, sculpted girls in Phoenix, then on to Denver and beyond, encountering along the way a dazzling sequence of eccentric and sometimes dangerous characters: creepy dads, mean girls, predatory radio announcers, kindly ex-opera singers, sham teachers, and avaricious cult leaders. Through it all, René pushes herself, doing everything she can to excel at her art while at the same time finding her way through the trials of adolescence. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBut leaving home is not the same as escaping it. And try as she might, René can't quite shake the aching she has for someone to love and accept her just the way she is, dancer or not, successful or not, perfect or imperfect. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLyrical and incisive, \u003ci\u003eStarting from Here\u003c\/i\u003e is a story of facing the many challenges and terrors of girlhood, of reaching for something that exceeds your grasp, of the enduring contradictions of familial love, of right steps and wrong turns, and of somehow finding your way from wherever you are to wherever you need to go.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50102815162591,"sku":"9780593978290","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/peQA2HdgSf9780593978290.webp?v=1781087406"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/paula-saunders.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}