Nickolas Butler – författare

In this moving new novel from celebrated author Nickolas Butler, a Wisconsin family grapples with the power and limitations of faith when one of their own falls under the influence of a radical church  Lyle Hovde is at the onset of his golden years, living a mostly content life in rural Wisconsin with his wife, Peg, daughter, Shiloh, and six-year old grandson, Isaac. After a troubled adolescence and subsequent estrangement from her parents, Shiloh has finally come home. But while Lyle is thrilled to have his whole family reunited, he’s also uneasy: in Shiloh’s absence, she has become deeply involved with an extremist church, and the devout pastor courting her is convinced Isaac has the spiritual ability to heal the sick.

While reckoning with his own faith—or lack thereof—Lyle soon finds himself torn between his unease about the church and his desire to keep his daughter and grandson in his life. But when the church’s radical belief system threatens Isaac’s safety, Lyle is forced to make a decision from which the family may not recover.  

Set over the course of one year and beautifully evoking the change of seasons, Little Faith is a powerful and deeply affecting intergenerational novel about family and community, the ways in which belief is both formed and shaken, and the lengths we go to protect our own.

Welcome to Little Wing.It''s a place like hundreds of others, nothing special, really. But for four friends—all born and raised in this small Wisconsin town—it is home. And now they are men, coming into their own, or struggling to do so.One of them never left, still working the family farm that has been tilled for generations. But others felt the need to move on, with varying degrees of success. One trades commodities, another took to the rodeo circuit, and one of them even hit it big as a rock star. And then there''s Beth, a woman who has meant something special in each of their lives.Now all four are brought together for a wedding. Little Wing seems even smaller than before. While lifelong bonds are still strong, there are stresses—between the friends, between husbands and wives. There will be heartbreak, but there will also be hope, healing, even heroism as these memorable people learn the true meaning of adult friendship and love.Seldom has the American heartland been so richly and accurately portrayed. Though the town may have changed, the one thing that hasn''t is the beauty of the Wisconsin farmland, the lure of which, in Nickolas Butler''s hands, emerges as a vibrant character in the story. Shotgun Lovesongs is that rare work of fiction that evokes a specific time and place yet movingly describes the universal human condition. It is, in short, a truly remarkable audiobook—a novel that once listened to will never be forgotten.

Nickolas Butler''s debut novel, Shotgun Lovesongs, has become an international bestseller and won numerous accolades, including France''s Prix PAGE/America. Now, in Beneath the Bonfire, he demonstrates his talent for portraying "a place and its people with such love that you''ll find yourself falling for them, too" (Josh Weil, author of The Great Glass Sea).Young couples gather to participate in an annual "chainsaw party," cutting down trees for firewood in anticipation of the winter. A group of men spend a weekend hunting for mushrooms in the wilderness where they grew up and where some still find themselves trapped. An aging environmentalist takes out his frustration and anger on a singular, unsuspecting target. One woman helps another get revenge against a man whose crime extends far beyond him to an entire community. Together, the ten stories in this dazzling, surprising collection evoke a landscape that will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has traveled the back roads and blue highways of America, and they completely capture the memorable characters who call it home.

Nickolas Butler''s bestselling Shotgun Lovesongs ("Impressively original." —New York Times) is that rare work of fiction that evokes a specific time and place, yet movingly describes the universal human condition. A truly remarkable book that, once read, will never be forgotten. Welcome to Little Wing.It''s a place like hundreds of others, but for four boyhood friends—all born and raised in this small Wisconsin town—it is home. One of them never left, still working the family farm, but the others felt the need to move on. One trades commodities, another took to the rodeo circuit. One of them hit it big as a rock star. And then there''s Beth, a woman who has meant something special in each of their lives.When all of them are brought together for a wedding, Little Wing seems even smaller than before. Lifelong bonds remain strong, but there are stresses—among the friends, between husbands and wives. There will be heartbreak, but there will also be hope, healing, even heroism as these memorable people learn the true meaning of friendship and love."Sparkles in every way. A love letter to the open lonely American heartland…A must-read." —People

From Nickolas Butler, author of the national bestseller SHOTGUN LOVESONGS, comes a moving story of a cop''s last bid to right a wrong she may have helped create.Aida doesn''t recognize the young woman at first. It could be the scars that have altered Bethany''s face, the ones she tries and fails to cover up, that make her unrecognizable. Or it could just be Aida''s failing memory. Even before her retirement from the force she was losing track of things, whole days even. And it was in one of those moments that she fears she missed the chance to help Bethany before. A mistake that she now hopes she might be able to correct, or at the very least do penance for. Set amidst the failed farms and small towns of the prairie, IN WESTERN COUNTIES portrays one woman fighting to hold onto her own life, even as she frees the life of another.