THE LIVES OF EDIE PRITCHARD :: Larry Watson

I was sucked into Larry Watson's writing almost twenty years ago when I picked up Montana 1948. I've got multiple copies of that book taking space on the shelf and I'll never get rid of them. He immediately became one of those authors I just buy and read whatever he puts out, regardless of cover (thought they're always great), synopsis (though they always sound great), publicity (I've never read a bad word), anything. I just jump. So I was thrilled to see that a new book was coming on July 21. The Lives of Edie Pritchard begins thusly:

Sunlight glints off the slope of the hood like a snowdrift, and Roy Linderman puts on his sunglasses. Like a man born to drive, he lets one arm hang out the window of his Chevy Impala while the other rests on top of the steering wheel to keep the big car in line.

When you've read some Larry Watson, those lines feel like pulling into the gravel driveway of home after some time away. The Lives of Edie Pritchard is described by the wonderful Algonquin Press as "a multigenerational story of the West told through the history of one woman trying to navigate life on her own terms," and synopsized as follows:

Edie—smart, self‑assured, beautiful—always worked hard. She worked as a teller at a bank, she worked to save her first marriage, and later, she worked to raise her daughter even as her second marriage came apart. Really, Edie just wanted a good life, but everywhere she turned, her looks defined her. Two brothers fought over her. Her second husband became unreasonably possessive and jealous. Her daughter resented her. And now, as a grandmother, Edie finds herself harassed by a younger man. It’s been a lifetime of proving that she is allowed to exist in her own sphere. The Lives of Edie Pritchard tells the story of one woman just trying to be herself, even as multiple men attempt to categorize and own her.

Triumphant, engaging, and perceptive, Watson’s novel examines a woman both aware of her physical power and constrained by it, and how perceptions of someone in a small town can shape her life through the decades.

Praise has been high and wide, including starred reviews from Kirkus:

Watson is insightful in his depiction of Edie and those who seek to control her, and his descriptions of small-town Montana life, where guns are frequently a menacing presence, reflect how the potential for violence is ever present beneath the surface of things. The novel crackles with tension, especially the second and third acts; Watson is a born storyteller, and it shows on every understated page. But Edie's story also rings with a hardscrabble poetry . . . A riveting and tense examination of identity, violence, and female anger.

and Booklist:

Watson remains incapable of creating characters who aren't fully formed individuals, as courageous as they are vulnerable, and here he again displays his rare ability to craft strong women and to describe their everyday lives with rare power.

Always noted for his novelization of the regions of Montana, his cracking dialogue and unparalleled character work, Larry Watson is a treasure to behold. The Lives of Edie Pritchard is the latest in a line of stellar novels from one of our greatest artists.