Wabash, A Novel.
first edition
1987 · New York
by Butler, Robert Olen.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1987. First Edition. Octavo, black cloth & boards, gilt letters, uncut, 207 pp. Fine, in a Near-Fine, mylar protected dust jacket. From dust jacket: ...Wabash is a town on the Illniois side of the Mississippi, across from St. Louis. Wabash is also the name of the steel mill which is the main industry here in the summer of 1932. This is the setting for Butler’s new novel about the Coles, Deborah and Jeremy. Estranged from each other after the sudden death of their young daughter, both of them seeking consolation and meaning, they move in opposite directions -- Deborah turning to the women of her family, only to feel rebuffed; Jeremy, overcome by a wordless grief and a sense of inadequacy, gradually committing himself to a violent course of action against the men who intimidate and exploit his fellow steelworkers. As these two pursue their separate impulses, their paths converge, with consequences for both that are searing and profound. (Inventory #: 51250ns)