Pancake Hollow Primer
A Hudson Valley Story
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An insightful and often humorous tale of rural life and how an old house and its land can bring a broken person back to wellness.
Description
Winnerof the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Award in the First Novel Category (under 8,000 words)
Pancake Hollow Primer is the story of Gulf War vet and drifter Frank Closky who finds himself on a physical and spiritual journey after he inherits an 1820s farmhouse in New York's Hudson Valley.
At first indifferent to his ownership of "seven acres with a house, outbuildings, and all the contents within," Frank discovers a land where nature speaks its ancient history, where ghosts and seers hold the past, and where he comes to find his place in a rock-laden piece of property and a house with no square corners.
Inspired by writers like Sarah Orne Jewett, naturalist John Burroughs, and poets Gary Snyder and Mary Oliver, author Laurence Carr weaves together fiction, essay, and prose poem to create an insightful and often humorous tale of rural life and how an old house and its land can bring a broken person back to wellness.
Laurence Carr teaches dramatic and creative writing at SUNY New Paltz where he created the SUNY Playwrights' Project and was honored as a Teacher of the Year. Over thirty of his plays and theatre pieces have been produced in New York City, throughout the United States, and in Europe. His prose and poetry have been published and performed throughout the country.
Reviews
"Original in conception and design … Readers familiar with the region are bound to derive extra pleasure from its local references and particulars. " — Hudson River Valley Review
"Laurence Carr has written a spellbinding story of a house and its occupant, Frank. Pancake Hollow Primer moved me deeply, with its elegiac tone and touches of humor, as Frank discovers new life in objects left in the barn, and in the process, rebuilds his own life. " — Barbara Block Adams, author of The Stone Man and the Poet
"A marvelous book, Laurence Carr has found magic where few would look. We've all seen those old country homesteads haunted by time and by junk rusting in the grass. In such an unlikely setting Carr has written an appealing fable about the healing power of place, using poetry, prose, and a bit of witchcraft. " — Will Nixon, coauthor of Walking Woodstock: Journeys into the Wild Heart of America's Most Famous Small Town