Publisher Description

An Indie Next list selection and a Publishers Weekly Big Indie Book of Fall 2013 "Full of pathos and humor and sadness, you won't reach the end of this book without feeling fuller and wiser."
--PETER GEYE
Leonard Self has spent a year unwinding his ranch, paying down debts and fending off the darkening. Just one commitment left: taking his wife's ashes to her favorite overlook, where he plans to step off the cliff with her. Memories and encounters along the familiar road seem like obstacles--or they may be signs it's not his final drive after all.

Author Biography

CHARLIE QUIMBY is a fourth-generation Coloradan who spent most of his career in Minnesota after studying at Carleton College. Following an early stint as a bookseller and historical playwright, he wrote for the Minneapolis Star, Honeywell and then his own company, where he was an award-winning writer, annual report creative and marketing strategist. He is a co-author of Planning to Stay, a guide for how to assess your community and take control of its development. Since 2004, he's blogged about culture and politics at Across the Great Divide and splits time between his two home states, where he writes fiction and volunteers with the homeless.

Review

"Part modern western, part mystery, this first novel will appeal to fans of Louise Erdrich and Kent Haruf. Quimby's prose reads so true, it breaks the heart." --BOOKLIST, starred review
"The Colorado setting and the author's simple style of prose perfectly complement the complexity of the human spirit in this superb debut." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Monument Road is so rich with landscape, character and event that such a small telling cannot begin to do it justice. Read this exquisite story; it is a joy and a wonder and a tour de force of authorship." --SHELF AWARENESS
"Quimby's storytelling, his humane impulses and his lyrical passages on the meaning of love and time, and on the history, geology and botany of the region, will surely impress readers." --MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
"Quimby uses words as spare as Colorado's landscape to describe characters who range from endearing to crusty, wise to foolish, spiritual to downright evil. The folks who live near Monument Road aren't just descriptions in a book; they're complex people readers will care about." --FOREWORD REVIEWS
"A book of confessions and connections, fear, forgiveness and, ultimately, the stirrings of redemption." --HIGH COUNTRY NEWS
"Not to be overlooked is the love, humor and friendship among pain and loss...a book far more about the richness of life than the finality of death." --GRAND JUNCTION DAILY SENTINEL
"A wonderful novel full of wit and wisdom, generosity and malice." --GRAND JUNCTION FREE PRESS
"Quimby's writing is sensitive and graceful; he has a talent for revealing slowly blossoming characters who are beautifully flawed and realistic." --THE DESERET NEWS
"Monument Road is beautiful and real, full of landscape imagery of the American Southwest as a poignant and sometimes haunting metaphor of our connections to the land." --15 BYTES
"This is a novel with size and scope and generosity, with an acute understanding of human nature and a deep appreciation for the ways people face change and work out their lives in relation to each other." --KENT MEYERS, author of Twisted Tree
"In prose that might have been chiseled from the magnificent landscape he describes, Charlie Quimby has written a great big American Novel. Full of pathos and humor and sadness, you won't reach the end of this book without feeling fuller and wiser." --PETER GEYE, author of The Lighthouse Road
"A legitimate modern western, complete with an impressively authentic and aging rancher, heartache, ghosts, low-lifes, a rural landscape undergoing radical transformation, a glut of evangelical churches, and the ancient, powerful cliffs and mesas that surround it all, in southwestern Colorado. The narrative is likewise unpredictable and wild! A pleasure to read." --BONNIE NADZAM, author of Lamb
"The landscape and characters of Monument Road ring true. Charlie Quimby has created a story that is hard to forget. His attention to the details of a fading life and life style are spot on and will be a window to any reader's understanding of the central phenomenon of the New West." --DAN O'BRIEN, author of Stolen Horses
"A big-hearted novel chock full of memorable characters, a pleasure to read." --DAVID RHODES, author of Jewelweed

Review Quote

"Part modern western, part mystery, this first novel will appeal to fans of Louise Erdrich and Kent Haruf. Quimby's prose reads so true, it breaks the heart." --BOOKLIST, starred review "The Colorado setting and the author's simple style of prose perfectly complement the complexity of the human spirit in this superb debut." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY "Monument Road is so rich with landscape, character and event that such a small telling cannot begin to do it justice. Read this exquisite story; it is a joy and a wonder and a tour de force of authorship." --SHELF AWARENESS "Quimby's storytelling, his humane impulses and his lyrical passages on the meaning of love and time, and on the history, geology and botany of the region, will surely impress readers." --MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE "Quimby uses words as spare as Colorado's landscape to describe characters who range from endearing to crusty, wise to foolish, spiritual to downright evil. The folks who live near Monument Road aren't just descriptions in a book; they're complex people readers will care about." --FOREWORD REVIEWS "Not to be overlooked is the love, humor and friendship among pain and loss, which makes it a book far more about the richness of life than the finality of death." --GRAND JUNCTION DAILY SENTINEL "Monument Road is a wonderful novel full of wit and wisdom, generosity and malice." --GRAND JUNCTION FREE PRESS "Quimby's writing is sensitive and graceful; he has a talent for revealing slowly blossoming characters who are beautifully flawed and realistic." --THE DESERET NEWS "While not exactly a happy novel, Monument Road is beautiful and real, full of landscape imagery of the American Southwest as a poignant and sometimes haunting metaphor of our connections to the land." --15 BYTES "This is a novel with size and scope and generosity, with an acute understanding of human nature and a deep appreciation for the ways people face change and work out their lives in relation to each other." --KENT MEYERS, author of Twisted Tree and The Work of Wolves "In prose that might have been chiseled from the magnificent landscape he describes, Charlie Quimby has written a great big American Novel. Full of pathos and humor and sadness, you won't reach the end of this book without feeling fuller and wiser. What a gift Charlie has given us." --PETER GEYE, author of The Lighthouse Road and Safe from the Sea "Monument Road is a legitimate modern western, complete with an impressively authentic and aging rancher, heartache, ghosts, low-lifes, a rural landscape undergoing radical transformation, a glut of evangelical churches, and the ancient, powerful cliffs and mesas that surround it all, in southwestern Colorado. The narrative is likewise unpredictable and wild! A pleasure to read." --BONNIE NADZAM, author of Lamb "The landscape and characters of Monument Road ring true. Charlie Quimby has created a story that is hard to forget. His attention to the details of a fading life and life style are spot on and will be a window to any reader's understanding of the central phenomenon of the New West." --DAN O'BRIEN, author of Stolen Horses and Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch "Monument Road is a big-hearted novel chock full of memorable characters, a pleasure to read." --DAVID RHODES, author of Jewelweed and Driftless

Competing Titles

The Dog Stars Peter Heller 9780307959942 24.95 Knopf 8/7/2012 Theft BK Loren 9781582438191 16.00 Counterpoint 6/5/2012 Boleto Alyson Hagy 9781555976125 24.00 Graywolf 5/8/2012 Wilderness Lance Weller 9781608199372 25.00 Bloomsbury, USA 9/4/2012 Safe from the Sea Peter Geye 9781609530570 14.95 Unbridled Books 9/6/2011 Stolen Horses Dan O'Brien 9780803231085 19.95 Bison Books 9/1/2010 I Curse the River of Time Per Petterson 9781555975562 23.00 Graywolf Press 8/3/2010

Description for Sales People

Regional appeal--Monument Road winds through western Colorado. Monument Road addresses the difficult topic of suicide with thoughtful insight. Author was a bookseller for B. Dalton for two years and maintains connections in the book world.

Details