Author:Wallace Stegner

Literary agent Joe Allston, the central character of Stegner's novel All the Little Live Things, is now retired and, in his own words, 'just killing time until time gets around to killing me.' His parents and his only son are long dead, leaving him with neither ancestors nor descendants, tradition nor ties. His job, trafficking the talent of others, had not been his choice. He passes through life as a spectator. A postcard from an old friend causes Allston to return to the journals of a trip he and his wife had taken years before, a journey to his mother's birthplace, where he'd sought a link with the past. The memories of that trip, both grotesque and poignant, move through layers of time and meaning, and reveal that Joe Allston isn't quite spectator enough.
Wallace Stegner was the author of, among other works of fiction, Remembering Laughter (1973); The Big Rock Candy Mountain (1943); Joe Hill (1950); All the Little Live Things (1967, Commonwealth Club Gold Medal); A Shooting Star (1961); Angle of Repose (1971, Pulitzer Prize); Recapitulation (1979); Crossing to Safety (1987); and Collected Stories (1990). His nonfiction includes Beyond the Hundredth Meridian (1954); Wolf Willow (1963); The Sound of Mountain Water (essays, 1969); The Uneasy Chair: A Biography of Bernard deVoto (1964); American Places (with Page Stegner, 1981); and Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West (1992). Three short stories have won O.Henry prizes, and in 1980 he received the Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times for his lifetime literary achievements.
Elegant and entertaining ... every scene is adroitly staged and each effect precisely accomplished
—— The AtlanticA frank, wonderfully unsentimental and often very funny novel about becoming a mother to a disabled child
—— Kirsty LangSaira Shah is a gifted writer, a truly original talent. Her novel declares the presence of an author whose name we will come to cherish
—— Fergal KeaneAnarchically life-affirming... Shah writes with sensuous passion
—— New York TimesA touchingly funny, bittersweet first novel... An addictive, honest read
—— RedA funny and poignant read
—— Deirdre O'Brien , Sunday MirrorThis beautiful debut will have parent looking at their child through new eyes
—— Sarah Reid , UK Regional Press Syndication[I]n Rice's hands, The Wolf Gift evolves from a fantastical romp into an engrossing thriller. . .
—— San Francisco ChronicleWilde at his height, in The Picture of Dorian Gray (like The Wolf Gift, a morality tale about transformation), is Rice’s true precursor. He preferred paradox to uncomplicated alternatives, and was most at home in the dark light of ghost stories, church shadows and fairy tales. This is the energy of The Wolf Gift. It is wit-filled, languid and vibrant, brainy and snarling. It will leave open-minded readers howling for more.
—— The Globe and MailA superior thriller... the mix of ancient and modern, familiar and inventive, and the fact that Rice easily drops in elements that other people would save for a quick sequel – all this proves there is MORE in this book. And ultimately that means more satisfaction.
—— bookbag.co.ukI didn't want to put it down for a second.
—— warpcoresf.co.ukThe Wolf Gift is pure Anne Rice. It is dark. It is romantic. It is fast-paced and gripping. It is engaging and perhaps most importantly, it is fresh. Anne Rice has done with werewolves, exactly what she’s done for vampires, witches and angels and given them a complete make-over and her individual twist on their background. She’s re-invented and re-written the mythology of the genre.
—— iamelpi.comAnne Rice of the famous Vampire Chronicles is back, but this time she has put her fangs away and comes baring claws... This is sure to mark the beginning of a new saga for Rice and is equally sure to the guilty pleasure for many a fantasy horror fan.
—— welovethisbook.com