New Releases by Leif Enger

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A BARNES & NOBLE BOOK CLUB PICK • A career defining tour-de-force from New York Times bestselling, award-winning and “formidably gifted” (Chicago Tribune) author of Peace Like a River Leif Enger. “A rare, remarkable book to be kept and reread—for its beauty of language, its gentle wisdom and its steady, unflagging hope.” — Laurie Hertzel, Minneapolis Star Tribune A storyteller “of great humanity and huge heart” (Minneapolis Star Tribune), Leif Enger debuted in the literary world with Peace Like a River which sold over a million copies and captured readers’ hearts around the globe. Now comes a new milestone in this boldly imaginative author’s accomplished, resonant body of work. Set in a not-too-distant America, I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of a bereaved and pursued musician embarking under sail on a sentient Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. Rainy, an endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs and remote islands of the inland sea. Encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, Rainy finds on land an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, crumbled infrastructure and a lawless society. Amidst the Gulliver-like challenges of life at sea and no safe landings, Rainy is lifted by physical beauty, surprising humor, generous strangers, and an unexpected companion in a young girl who comes aboard. And as his innate guileless nature begins to make an inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy’s private quest for the love of his life grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in his strengthening wake. I Cheerfully Refuse epitomizes the “musical, sometimes magical and deeply satisfying kind of storytelling” (Los Angeles Times) for which Leif Enger is cherished. A rollicking narrative in the most evocative of settings, this latest novel is a symphony against despair and a rallying cry for the future.

When former Detroit Tiger legend Gunsten Pedersen witnesses the murder of a minor-league star in Duluth, Minnesota, he is drawn into a blackmail scheme involving an aging baseball groupie and the corrupt owner of a big-league franchise. Fans of Lee Child''s Jack Reacher, Craig Johnson''s Longmire, and William Kent Krueger''s Cork O''Connor enjoy the Enger brothers'' Gun Pedersen.

When a friend turns up dead in Minneapolis, victim of an ugly murder, former Detroit Tigers outfielder Gunsten Pedersen must leave his sanctuary on Stony Lake in northern Minnesota and immerse himself in the dirty underworld of human trafficking. Fans of Lee Child''s Jack Reacher, Craig Johnson''s Longmire, and William Kent Krueger''s Cork O''Connor enjoy the Enger brothers'' Gun Pedersen. ***PRAISE FOR THE GUN PEDERSEN SERIES*** COMEBACK: "A well-written, fast-reading thriller. . . . It''s got everything." -Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine "Comeback is so good, you want to sit down and read it all at once. It''s got love and shame and money and the Minnesota woods and lakes, and dark mystery, and a reluctant hero, and it''s written with humor and passion." -Garrison Keillor SWING: "Solidly entertaining." -ALA Booklist "In Swing, the plot twists as unpredictably as a hangman''s rope. Swing has muscle (and heart, too)." -Alfred Hitchcock''s Mystery Magazine "[A] sure hit." -R.D. Zimmerman, author of Deadfall in Berlin STRIKE: "Compelling." -Publishers Weekly SACRIFICE: "Sacrifice is the best novel I''ve read this year. Not just the best mystery, but the best novel, period." -Jeremiah Healy, author of the John Francis Cuddy series "Sharp and engaging!" -Minneapolis Star Tribune THE SINNERS'' LEAGUE: "[A] revelation . . ." -Booklist

When gold is discovered near reservation land in Minnesota, former Detroit Tigers outfielder Gunsten Pedersen becomes enmeshed in a stand-off between a mining company and the Ojibwe tribe. Innocent people are murdered, and Gun must navigate the gray zone between white and Native-American worlds. Fans of Lee Child''s Jack Reacher, Craig Johnson''s Longmire, and William Kent Krueger''s Cork O''Connor enjoy the Enger brothers'' Gun Pedersen. ***PRAISE FOR THE GUN PEDERSEN SERIES*** COMEBACK: "A well-written, fast-reading thriller. . . . It''s got everything." -Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine "Comeback is so good, you want to sit down and read it all at once. It''s got love and shame and money and the Minnesota woods and lakes, and dark mystery, and a reluctant hero, and it''s written with humor and passion." -Garrison Keillor SWING: "Solidly entertaining." -ALA Booklist "In Swing, the plot twists as unpredictably as a hangman''s rope. Swing has muscle (and heart, too)." -Alfred Hitchcock''s Mystery Magazine "[A] sure hit." -R.D. Zimmerman, author of Deadfall in Berlin STRIKE: "Compelling." -Publishers Weekly SACRIFICE: "Sacrifice is the best novel I''ve read this year. Not just the best mystery, but the best novel, period." -Jeremiah Healy, author of the John Francis Cuddy series "Sharp and engaging!" -Minneapolis Star Tribune THE SINNERS'' LEAGUE: "[A] revelation . . ." -Booklist

In the late 1960s, two young men left a small Michigan town. One was Gunsten Pedersen, who went on to a career with the Detroit Tigers. The other was Harry Summers, a gifted infielder who disappeared from Copper Strike on a rainy June night. Now an excavation crew has unearthed Harry''s bones, and with them, grim evidence of murder-a hammer imbedded in Harry''s skull. Gun Pedersen, hometown hero turned recluse, has returned for Harry''s funeral. But when evidence of the decades-old crime points to Gun''s father, Gun is caught in a tragedy from Copper Strike''s past. With his own wedding only days away, Gun is finding some hard and wrenching truths: about the things fathers do for sons, about the things you can''t ever leave behind, and about a killer who has yet one more life to take. Fans of Lee Child''s Jack Reacher, Craig Johnson''s Longmire, and William Kent Krueger''s Cork O''Connor enjoy the Enger brothers'' Gun Pedersen. ***PRAISE FOR THE GUN PEDERSEN SERIES*** COMEBACK: "A well-written, fast-reading thriller. . . . It''s got everything." -Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine "Comeback is so good, you want to sit down and read it all at once. It''s got love and shame and money and the Minnesota woods and lakes, and dark mystery, and a reluctant hero, and it''s written with humor and passion." -Garrison Keillor SWING: "Solidly entertaining." -ALA Booklist "In Swing, the plot twists as unpredictably as a hangman''s rope. Swing has muscle (and heart, too)." -Alfred Hitchcock''s Mystery Magazine "[A] sure hit." -R.D. Zimmerman, author of Deadfall in Berlin STRIKE: "Compelling." -Publishers Weekly SACRIFICE: "Sacrifice is the best novel I''ve read this year. Not just the best mystery, but the best novel, period." -Jeremiah Healy, author of the John Francis Cuddy series "Sharp and engaging!" -Minneapolis Star Tribune THE SINNERS'' LEAGUE: "[A] revelation . . ." -Booklist

Gunsten Søren Pedersen knew about baseball and death. A tragedy took the former slugger out of the major leagues, and the only diamonds he sees now are the stars shining in the cold night of Minnesota''s North Woods. That is, until Miles Gates-an old friend in big trouble-calls him down to the Sunshine State. What Gun finds there is a trail of brutal killings, some aging ballplayers, shady characters, and the beautiful sister of a reporter who died for his story. Gun discovers the truth behind the murder spree, and he strikes at it as hard as he ever hit a fastball in his prime. But in the warmth of the Florida sun, old dreams and old hatreds have a way of coming back to life-and when Gun returns north, so does a man who wants him dead. Fans of Lee Child''s Jack Reacher, Craig Johnson''s Longmire, and William Kent Krueger''s Cork O''Connor enjoy the Enger brothers'' Gun Pedersen. ***PRAISE FOR THE GUN PEDERSEN SERIES*** COMEBACK: "A well-written, fast-reading thriller. . . . It''s got everything." -Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine "Comeback is so good, you want to sit down and read it all at once. It''s got love and shame and money and the Minnesota woods and lakes, and dark mystery, and a reluctant hero, and it''s written with humor and passion." -Garrison Keillor SWING: "Solidly entertaining." -ALA Booklist "In Swing, the plot twists as unpredictably as a hangman''s rope. Swing has muscle (and heart, too)." -Alfred Hitchcock''s Mystery Magazine "[A] sure hit." -R.D. Zimmerman, author of Deadfall in Berlin STRIKE: "Compelling." -Publishers Weekly SACRIFICE: "Sacrifice is the best novel I''ve read this year. Not just the best mystery, but the best novel, period." -Jeremiah Healy, author of the John Francis Cuddy series "Sharp and engaging!" -Minneapolis Star Tribune THE SINNERS'' LEAGUE: "[A] revelation . . ." -Booklist

***NOMINATED FOR AN EDGAR AWARD*** In the midst of substantial personal loss, six-foot-six Gunsten Søren Pedersen, the Detroit Tigers'' veteran fence-swinger, walked away from his career and sport that he adored. Retiring to the tranquil solitude of Minnesota''s North Woods, Gun left behind disappointed fans and searing press coverage. But a millionaire real estate investor is out to tear apart Gun''s new home. Loon Country Attractions comes replete with an amusement park, convention center, and shopping super-center-with vast environmental degradation to boot. The townsfolk are divided, and Gun is further pulled into the center of the chaos when his daughter becomes pawn in a political campaign that''s turned ugly. Gun seizes the opportunity for redemption, fighting for everything left that he holds dear-but this new game might cost him his life. Fans of Lee Child''s Jack Reacher, Craig Johnson''s Longmire, and Nevada Barr''s Anna Pigeon, may appreciate Engers'' Gun Pedersen. ***PRAISE FOR THE GUN PEDERSEN SERIES*** COMEBACK: "A well-written, fast-reading thriller. . . . It''s got everything." -Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine "Comeback is so good, you want to sit down and read it all at once. It''s got love and shame and money and the Minnesota woods and lakes, and dark mystery, and a reluctant hero, and it''s written with humor and passion." -Garrison Keillor SWING: "Solidly entertaining." -ALA Booklist "In Swing, the plot twists as unpredictably as a hangman''s rope. Swing has muscle (and heart, too)." -Alfred Hitchcock''s Mystery Magazine "[A] sure hit." -R.D. Zimmerman, author of Deadfall in Berlin STRIKE: "Compelling." -Publishers Weekly SACRIFICE: "Sacrifice is the best novel I''ve read this year. Not just the best mystery, but the best novel, period." -Jeremiah Healy, author of the John Francis Cuddy series "Sharp and engaging!" -Minneapolis Star Tribune THE SINNERS'' LEAGUE: "[A] revelation . . ." -Booklist

A man seeks to rediscover his broken Midwestern community in "a fast-paced, humorous and mystical novel about hope, friendship, love and the relationship between a town and its people" by the New York Times –bestselling author of Peace Like a River ( BookPage ). Movie house owner Virgil Wander is "cruising along at medium altitude" when his car flies off the road into icy Lake Superior. Though Virgil survives, his language and memory are altered. Awakening in this new life, Virgil begins to piece together the past. He is helped by a cast of curious locals—from a stranger investigating the mystery of his disappeared son, to the vanished man''s enchanting wife, to a local journalist who is Virgil''s oldest friend. Into this community returns a shimmering prodigal son who may hold the key to reviving their town. Leif Enger conjures a remarkable portrait of a region and its residents, who, for reasons of choice or circumstance, never made it out of their defunct industrial district. Carried aloft by quotidian pleasures including movies, fishing, necking in parked cars, playing baseball and falling in love, Virgil Wander is a journey into the heart of America''s Upper Midwest. "Enger deserves to be mentioned alongside the likes of Richard Russo and Thomas McGuane. Virgil Wander is a lush crowd-pleaser about meaning and second chances and magic." — The New York Times Book Review "[Enger''s] writing leaped out at me – it''s so easy and so vivid and so powerful all at once, and his characters are instantly real." —Tana French, Vulture

"An almost perfect novel" of yearning, adventure, and redemption in the dying days of the Old West from the bestselling author of Peace Like a River ( St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Minnesota, 1915. With success long behind him, writer, husband, and father Monte Becket has lost his sense of purpose . . . until he befriends outlaw Glendon Hale. Plagued by guilt over abandoning his wife two decades ago, Hale is heading back West in search of absolution. And he could use some company on the journey. As the modern age marches swiftly forward, Becket agrees to travel into Hale''s past, leaving behind his own family for an adventure that will test the depth of his loyalties and morals, and the strength of his resolve. As they flee the relentless former Pinkerton Detective who''s been hunting Hale for years, Becket falls ever further into the life of an outlaw—perhaps to the point of no return. With its smooth mix of romanticism and gritty reality, So Brave, Young, and Handsome examines one ordinary man''s determination to risk everything in order to understand what it''s all worth, in "an old-fashioned, swashbuckling, heroic Western . . . [An] adventure of the heart and mind ( The Washington Post Book World).

Ny bok fra forfatteren bak suksessen ''Ned til elva''! Minnesota 1915. Monte Becket er en mann med suksess bak seg, han er på retur, han er en skuffelse for sine omgivelser, og han har mistet det indre drivet, opplevelsen av mening. Han lever ytre sett et enkelt liv sammen med en kjærlig kone og en munnrapp sønn. Da han en dag blir kjent med rømlingen og skurken Glendon Hale, åpner det seg med ett en verden full av eventyr og nye muligheter. ''Så ung, så kjekk, så modig'' er en romantisk westernhistorie med et klassisk cowboy-plott, skrevet i en moderne prosa så sterk og tilstedeværende at man kan lukte whiskyen og kjenne støvet i øynene.

Enger lar oss møte elleve år gamle Reuben Land, en astmatisk gutt i Midtvesten en gang på 1960-tallet, en forteller som ikke nøler med å tro på mirakler. Nå er Reuben på vei gjennom Midtvesten sammen med søsteren og faren, på leting etter sin eldre bror: en rastløs ung mann som har vært på kant med loven og nå står overfor en omstridt drapstiltale. Reisen blir både en odyssé og en åpenbaring – et intenst møte med det amerikanske landskapet, med menneskene, og med den kjærligheten som gjør det mulig å trosse selv de frykteligste fiender. Leif Enger (f. 1961) er oppvokst i Osakis i Minnesota og arbeidet som journalist og produsent for Minnesota Public Radio i nærmere tjue år. Ned til elva er hans debutroman.

It is 1960s Minnesota and eleven-year-old Reuben Land is an asthmatic boy obsessed with the legends of the Wild West. When schoolyard bullies break into the house, his big brother Davy guns them down and is arrested. But shortly afterwards he absconds from jail and goes on the run.

Through the voice of 11-year-old Reuben Land, an asthmatic boy obsessed with cowboys living in 1960s Minnesota, the story is told of the Land family''s cross-country search for Reuben''s outlaw older brother, who has been charged with murder.

Davy kills two men and leaves home. His father packs up the family in a search for Davy.