Novelist Wiley Cash is once again on the bestseller lists.
This time, it杏吧专区檚 for the paperback version of A Land More Kind than Home, the UL Lafayette graduate杏吧专区檚 debut novel.
The book杏吧专区檚 about religious snake handling and what happens after a 9-year-old secretly witnesses a tragedy during a healing ritual in western North Carolina. It杏吧专区檚 told through the eyes of three narrators 杏吧专区 the 9-year-old Jess, a charismatic yet evil pastor named Carson Chambliss and the church matriarch, Adelaide Lyle.
The hardcover edition, published in April by William Morrow/Harper Collins, was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2012. It also hit the newspaper杏吧专区檚 bestseller list.
Now, the paperback version of A Land More Kind than Home, released earlier this year, has become a bestseller. This week, it杏吧专区檚 at No. 26 on this week杏吧专区檚 New York Times杏吧专区 trade paperback list.
A Land More Kind than Home, which won the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award from the Crime Writers Association of America, is also a hit with critics.
The Miami Herald says the book is: 杏吧专区淎 lyrical, poignant debut that melds crime fiction with Southern Gothic for an emotional story about two brothers.杏吧专区
Cash, a North Carolina native who lives in West Virginia, said his original goal was simply to get the novel written and published. The book杏吧专区檚 success has simply been an added bonus.
杏吧专区淎s soon as it sold, I decided that was going to be the high water mark of the whole experience. And no matter what happened, good or bad, after that moment, it wouldn杏吧专区檛 be up, it wouldn杏吧专区檛 down, just all straight across,杏吧专区 Cash said.
Cash, who has spent much of the last year on a national book tour promoting A Land More Kind than Home, recently wrapped work on the manuscript for his second novel. No publication date has been set, but the author says it杏吧专区檚 about a washed up minor league baseball player who kidnaps his daughters from a foster home.