Like the Appearance of Horses

Andrew Krivak is an award-winning writer whose books include Mule Boy; The Bear, a National Endowment for the Arts Big Read selection; and the freestanding novels of the Dardan Trilogy: The Sojourn, a National Book Award finalist and winner of both the Chautauqua Prize and Dayton Literary Peace Prize; The Signal Flame, a Chautauqua Prize finalist; and Like the Appearance of Horses, a Library Journal “Best Book of the Year” and Indie Next List for Reading Groups selection. He lives in Somerville, Massachusetts and Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

Praise for Like the Appearance of HorsesMassachusetts Book Awards LonglistAmerican Booksellers Association Indie Next List for Reading GroupsReading Group Choices “Top Picks” selectionLibrary Journal “Best Literary Fiction of the Year” selectionWashington Independent Review of Books “Favorite Books of the Year” selectionSaturday Evening Post “Hot Weather” selection“Raises provocative questions about how we perceive and engage with the past and is a further testament to Krivak’s masterful abilities as a storyteller.” —WBUR“Forceful and absorbing.” —WOSU“Lyrical, moving. . . . While Krivak depicts the violence of war with frightening intimacy, he’s also attuned to the persistence of beauty and grace in nature and in what love endures.” —Fordham Magazine“A startling clarity characterizes [Krivak’s] language, which can only be called luminous.” —Washington Independent Review of Books“[Krivak’s] prose is spare and exquisite, breathing life into the mountains, the forests, and the foxholes these characters inhabit. A beautifully emotional and delicate novel.” —Historical Novels Review“Krivak’s resplendent multigenerational family saga expertly braids the horrors of war with the struggles of those waiting for loved ones to return home.” —Booklist (starred review)“[An] intensely readable whopper of a book.” —Library Journal (starred review)“Subtle and nuanced.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“Krivak impresses with this layered story of deferred homecomings and the elusive nature of peace.” —Publishers Weekly“Compelling and deftly crafted.” —Midwest Book Review“Andrew Krivak charts a razor-fine line between war and peace, damnation and redemption, estrangement and love, and along the way gives us a gorgeously detailed portrait of an American family. Whether he’s writing about battle, the natural world, or the most private, searing matters of the heart, Krivak brings a rare mastery to the page, a synthesis of language and deep perception that delivers revelation after revelation. Like the Appearance of Horses is a major achievement.” —Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk and Devil Makes Three“Krivak’s Homeric novel is at once intimate and sweeping, expanding an epic story set into motion in The Sojourn. Tenderly attentive to all that is given and taken by war, Like the Appearance of Horses is a graceful, heroic accomplishment that speaks to the costs of duty when violence is as constant as the Pennsylvania mountains that anchor and separate this indelible family we’ve come to know so personally.” —Asako Serizawa, author of InheritorsSelect Praise for Andrew Krivak“Some writers are good at drawing a literary curtain over reality, and then there are writers who raise the veil and lead us to see for the first time. Krivak belongs to the latter.” —National Book Award judges’ citation“[Krivak’s] work has been compared to William Faulkner’s in its rich sense of place, to Wendell Berry’s in its attentiveness to natural beauty, and to Cormac McCarthy’s in its deep investigation of violence and myth. Yet all of Krivak’s writing, and especially his fiction, presents a truly singular vision.” —Anthony Domestico, Image“An extraordinarily elegant writer, with a deep awareness of the natural world.” —Roxana Robinson, New York Times Book Review“Eloquent, sensitive.” —Jennifer Haigh, Boston Globe“Incandescent.” —Marlon James“Spare and lovely.” —Adam Johnson“Grand and unforgettable.” —Maaza Mengiste“A writer of rare and powerful elegance.” —Mary Doria Russell“Destined for great things.” —Richard Russo“[A] singular talent.” —Jesmyn Ward“Explores themes that profoundly resonate today.” —Harper’s Bazaar