When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man

Dybek brings serious talent to bear... [The novel] finishes on a powerful note of moral murkiness... Evocative. * New York Times * Finely crafted . . . a taut novel juggling the sometimes conflicting impulses to do the moral thing, and to protect those we love * Los Angeles Times * Dybek has a gift for the atmospheric. * The New Yorker * An engrossing and exacting moral thriller. -- Peter Ho Davies, author of The Welsh Girl A thrilling yarn, delivered as if by a scarred man by the consoling light of a fire. * The Economist * An authentic, atmospheric, coming-of-age story with a painful dilemma . . . A terrific debut. -- C. J. Box [An] engrossing, often haunting thriller. * Washington Independent Review of Books * Dybek has created a superbly orchestrated and soulful drama of loyalty to family and an imperiled way of life and the fathomless forces that make a good man go bad. * Booklist * A book to watch. * O: The Oprah Magazine * Complex and suspenseful . . . A genuine tragedy-powerful, mythic, unforgettable. -- Jaimy Gordon, author of Lord of Misrule This is a book about transitions, and revelations, and the thin line between acting out of fear, and out of out of a sense of morality . . . Dybek is a clean and stripped-down stylist, striking a delicate balance between ambiguity and life-changing clarity. * Los Angeles Times *

Nick Dybek's first novel, WHEN CAPTAIN FLINT WAS STILL A GOOD MAN, was the winner of the 2013 Society of Midland Authors Award, a finalist for the VCU-Cabell First Novelist Award and his been translated into five languages. He's also a recipient of a Granta New Voices selection, a Michener-Copernicus Society of America Award and a Maytag Fellowship. He received a BA from the University of Michigan and an MFA from The Iowa Writers' Workshop. He teaches at Oregon State University.