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Patrick Somerville

Born: 1979 in Wisconsin
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Somerville lives in Chicago and teaches in the master's in fine arts programs of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Biography: Somerville grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He went to college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and later earned his MFA from Cornell University. He has taught creative writing and English at Cornell, Northwestern University, Auburn State Correctional Facility, and The Graham School in Chicago. His writing has appeared in ''One Story'', ''Epoch'', ''GQ'', ''Esquire'', and ''Best American Nonrequired Reading''.


Awards:
  • -- Received the 2009 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library
  • -- ''Trouble'' was named 2006's Best Book by a Chicago Author by ''Time Out Chicago''

Primary Literary Genre(s): Fiction

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Email: patrickswebsitemail@gmail.com
Website: http://www.patricksomerville.com
Patrick Somerville on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=patrick++somerville


Selected Titles

The cradle :
ISBN: 0316036129 OCLC: 225870371

Little, Brown, New York : 2009.

In the summer of 1997, a newlywed couple, Matt and Marissa, are living in Wisconsin and expecting their first child. With the baby almost due, Marissa sends Matt on a quest to recover an antique cradle from her mother, who claimed it when she abandoned her family years earlier. Ten years later, a middle-aged couple, Bill and Renee, are living outside Chicago and preparing to see their only son, Adam, off to war in Iraq. Adam's departure brings to the surface deeply personal memories of Renee's first love, and forces the confession of a long-held secret that brings the two stories together in the novel's powerful climax.

The universe in miniature in miniature
ISBN: 9780982580899 OCLC: 694146057

Featherproof Books, Chicago : 2010.

The universe in miniature in miniature /
ISBN: 0982580819 OCLC: 607977129

A novel-in-stories travels from suburbs to outer space and revolves around the tale "The Machine of Understanding Other People," in which a Chicago man is given a supernatural helmet that lets him experience the inner worlds of others.

This bright river :
ISBN: 0316129313 OCLC: 756585512

Reagan Arthur Books/Little, Brown and Co., New York : 2012.

"Lauren Sheehan's career in medicine came to a halt after a sequence of violent events abroad. Now she's back in the safest place she knows--St. Helens, Wisconsin--cut off from career, friendship, and romance. Ben Hanson's aimless life bottomed out when he went to prison. But after his release, a surprising offer from his father draws him home. In Wisconsin, he finds his family fractured, still unable to face the truth behind his troubled cousin's death a decade earlier. As Lauren cautiously expands her world and Ben tries to unravel the mysteries of his family and himself, their paths intersect. Could each be exactly what the other needs? A compelling family drama and a surprising love story, THIS BRIGHT RIVER confirms Patrick Somerville's status as one of the most exciting young writers at work today"--

  This Bright River.
ISBN: 9781619694415 OCLC: 785872493

Hachette Audio 2012.

Lauren Sheehan's career in medicine came to a halt after a sequence of violent events abroad. Now she's back in the safest place she knows--St. Helens, Wisconsin--cut off from career, friendship, and romance. Ben Hanson's aimless life bottomed out when he went to prison. But after his release, a surprising offer from his father draws him home. In Wisconsin, he finds his family fractured, still unable to face the truth behind his troubled cousin's death a decade earlier. As Lauren cautiously expands her world and Ben tries to unravel the mysteries of his family and himself, their paths intersect. Could each be exactly what the other needs?

Trouble :
ISBN: 9780307498403 OCLC: 681584966

Vintage eBooks, New York : [2010]

Trouble :
ISBN: 0307275353 OCLC: 65187416

Vintage Contemporaries, New York : 2006.

Somerville's collection portrays men and soon-to-be men in various states of transformational chaos. In "Puberty," Brandon, on the cusp of adolescence, attempts to wrest control of his body from Mother Nature by using vitamins to hasten the onset of puberty. In "Crow Moon," Seth mourns his fading childhood and faces a monotonous and unhappy adulthood. In "Cold War," an older doctor's affair with a disturbed young woman is the catalyst for a breakdown as he owns up to his impending mortality.

 

 

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