{"title":"Brad Watson","description":"\u003cp\u003eBrad Watson's novels offer a rich tapestry of \u003cem\u003ehistorical\u003c\/em\u003e and general fiction, blending vivid character studies with evocative settings. His storytelling captures the complexities of human experience, often exploring themes of love, loss, and resilience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect beautifully crafted narratives that immerse them in thoughtfully rendered worlds, where intimate personal dramas unfold against broader social landscapes. Watson's work resonates with emotional depth and a keen sense of place.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"there-is-happiness-by-brad-watson-9781324076421","title":"There Is Happiness","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Here is a generous portion of the work of a swiftly passing lifetime. Bountiful is the deserving page,” Joy Williams writes in her introduction to this astonishing selection of Brad Watson's published and unpublished stories: “excellent, assured, funny, startling, heartbreaking, wild,” full of “freakish flair” and “melancholy realism” - stories that give us a “glimpse” of ourselves “so surprising, so varied yet unequivocal, so ruthlessly complete, that it does awaken us in some manner, if not protect or prepare us.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBrad Watson was a master of dark comedy, extraordinary lyricism, appalling grotesquerie, and unabashed vulnerability; a sublime prose stylist whose novels and stories drew upon the fecundity and moodiness of the South. Male meltdown, carrying with it the possibility of being saved by Dolly Parton or some other woman or maybe by animal friends, is a theme, as is young love and its disillusionment, as are strange neighbours who cannot be understood. A leopard that consumes its zookeeper, pronghorn antelope tenderly transporting the poop of their young, insufferably articulate birds and restless, tolerant dogs—this is also eco-fiction of a very peculiar sort, in which nature reassures, transcends, and finally escapes judging or being judged by us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRoller-coastering from the mournful to the comical (sometimes in the same paragraph), Watson's work is both embedded in a literary heritage tied to place and at home in a universal literature of the absurd. His stories waltz with lovely and strange melancholy, infused with wit and astonishing beauty. \u003cem\u003eThere Is Happiness\u003c\/em\u003e embodies the twisted hilarity and undeniable grace of an underrecognised literary genius.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853347737836,"sku":"9781324076421","price":56.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11448603482659.jpg?v=1759197711"},{"product_id":"miss-jane-by-brad-watson-9781035061747","title":"Miss Jane","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'As unexpectedly beguiling as it is affecting'\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSince his award-winning debut collection of stories, \u003cem\u003eLast Days of the Dog-Men\u003c\/em\u003e, Brad Watson's work has been as melancholy, witty, strange, and lovely as any in America. Inspired by the true story of his own great-aunt, he explores the life of Miss Jane Chisolm, born in rural, early-twentieth-century Mississippi with a genital birth defect that would stand in the way of the central \"uses\" for a woman in that time and place—namely, sex and marriage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the country doctor who adopts Jane to the hard tactile labor of farm life, from the sensual and erotic world of nature around her to the boy who loved but was forced to leave her, the world of Miss Jane Chisolm is anything but barren. Free to satisfy only herself, she mesmerizes those around her, exerting an unearthly fascination that lives beyond her still.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Watson's talent is singular, truly awesome; he reminds me of Raymond Carver, Flannery O'Connor, Chris Offutt in his bravery, his unflinching willingness to look at what might set others running'\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eA.M. Homes\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Superb . . . Watson . . . has a great heart, and this great heart has made him a great writer'\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eIndependent\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePart of the Picador Collection, a series celebrating fifty years of Picador books and showcasing the best of modern literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Macmillan Publishers New Zealand Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46977908670700,"sku":"9781035061747","price":28.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/58dfddebae137dba9ba3d14320068de3.jpg?v=1762941143"},{"product_id":"there-is-happiness-by-brad-watson-9781324123378","title":"There Is Happiness","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere is a generous portion of the work of a swiftly passing lifetime. Bountiful is the deserving page, Joy Williams writes in her introduction to this astonishing selection of Brad Watson's published and unpublished stories: excellent, assured, funny, startling, heartbreaking, wild, full of freakish flair and melancholy realism—stories that give us a glimpse of ourselves so surprising, so varied yet unequivocal, so ruthlessly complete, that it does awaken us in some manner, if not protect or prepare us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBrad Watson was a master of dark comedy, extraordinary lyricism, appalling grotesquerie, and unabashed vulnerability; a sublime prose stylist whose novels and stories drew upon the fecundity and moodiness of the South. Male meltdown, carrying with it the possibility of being saved by Dolly Parton or some other woman or maybe by animal friends, is a theme, as is young love and its disillusionment, as are strange neighbours who cannot be understood. A leopard that consumes its zookeeper, pronghorn antelope tenderly transporting the poop of their young, insufferably articulate birds and restless, tolerant dogs—this is also eco-fiction of a very peculiar sort, in which nature reassures, transcends, and finally escapes judging or being judged by us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRoller-coastering from the mournful to the comical (sometimes in the same paragraph), Watson's work is both embedded in a literary heritage tied to place and at home in a universal literature of the absurd. His stories waltz with lovely and strange melancholy, infused with wit and astonishing beauty. \u003cem\u003eThere Is Happiness\u003c\/em\u003e embodies the twisted hilarity and undeniable grace of an underrecognised literary genius.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47933336092908,"sku":"9781324123378","price":37.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781324123378-there-is-happiness.jpg?v=1783867286"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/brad-watson.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}