During a fateful summer, 13-year-old Jake Weber witnesses the brutal murder of a Native American woman by the town banker. Jake's parents forbid him to speak of the killing or name its perpetrator, even as the woman's African American lover stands falsely accused. The crime and what follows it forever alter Jake's view of his parents and the world around him. Faraway Places won widespread praise for its vivid narrative and incantatory style, and Spanbauer displays singular skill in inhabiting the mind of a troubled adolescent boy. "A taut, brutal narrative . . . that comes to hypnotize, shimmering like the brilliant sun on the alfalfa fields." -The New York Times Book Review
"Forceful and moving . . . Spanbauer tells his short, brutal story with delicacy and deep respect for place and character." -Publishers Weekly
"The thing about Tom Spanbauer is he is the real deal; there are others who think they are, but they're not. Spanbauer is and he's not going to be the one to tell you about it. Faraway Places, Tom Spanbauer's first novel, is not enormously long, but it is a big book. And it is masterly-a near perfect book. Built upon keen observations of human behavior-ranging from God, to farming, the scent of one's father, the magic of sex and the exact number of steps from here to there-there is enormous originality, drama and spirit to this tale. It is a family drama with a pitch perfect crescendo. The story is hypnotic, mesmerizing, delicately brilliant and so well made. While you are lulled by the language and the characters, the storyline builds and then like a well timed firework explodes-surprising, enthralling, captivating." -A.M. Homes, author of This Book Will Save Your Life TOM SPANBAUER was born in a trunk in the Princess Theater in Pocatello, Idaho. Not really. The Princess Theater wasn't anymore by the time he came on the scene. He went to Catholic School until the eighth grade and then to Pocatello High School, then graduated from the newly finished Highland High. Five years at Idaho State University and he received a BA in English with a minor in German. In 1969 Tom went into the Peace Corps and he spent two years in Kenya, East Africa. Then came the 70s and the Married Years in Boise, Idaho. In 1978, Tom set himself free and moved to New England, then Key West, the finally settled in New York City for seven years. Tom, a survivor of AIDS, has lived and worked in Portland for fifteen years where he teaches Dangerous Writing. His novels include Faraway Places, The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon, In The City of Shy Hunters, and Now Is The Hour.
