Writers at the Wrecking Bar | Paula Saunders | The Distance Home
A Cappella Books is pleased to welcome Paula Saunders to Atlanta with her debut novel "The Distance Home." Saunders will be in conversation with Alison Law, host of the Literary Atlanta podcast. Musician Caroline Herring will lead off this Writers at the Wrecking Bar event by playing a live set at 7 p.m.
This moving debut novel is a profoundly American story. Set in a circa-1960s rural South Dakota—a hardscrabble place of cattle buyers, homegrown ballet studios, casual drug abuse, and unmitigated pressure to conform, all amid the great natural beauty of the region—the book portrays a loving but struggling young family in turmoil, and two siblings, Rene and Leon, who opt for different but equally extreme means of escaping the burdens of home.
By turns funny and tragic, lyrical and terse, Paula Saunders’s debut examines the classic American questions: What is to become of the vulnerable in a culture of striving and power? And what is the effect of this striving and power on both those who dominate and those who are overrun? It is an affecting novel, in which the author’s compassionate narration allows us to sympathize, in turn, with everyone involved.
If you are unable to attend this event, you may still pre-order a signed copy below.
About the Author
Paula Saunders grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota. She is a graduate of the Syracuse University creative writing program, and was awarded a postgraduate Albert Schweitzer Fellowship in the Humanities at the State University of New York at Albany, under then-Schweitzer Chair, Toni Morrison. She lives in California with her husband George Saunders. They have two grown daughters.
