The area surrounding Cashiers, North Carolina, is home to people of all kinds, but the world that Jacob McNeely lives in is crueler than most. His father runs a methodically organized meth ring, with local authorities on the dime to turn a blind eye to his dealings.
David Joy's stories and creative nonfiction have appeared in Drafthorse Literary Journal, Smoky Mountain Living, Wilderness House Literary Review, Pisgah Review, and Flycatcher, and he is the author of the memoir Growing Gills- A Fly Fisherman's Journey. He lives in Webster, North Carolina. Where All Light Tends to Go is his first novel.
Praise for Where All Light Tends to Go“[A] remarkable first novel .
. . This isn’t your ordinary coming-of-age novel, but with his
bone-cutting insights into these men and the region that bred them,
Joy makes it an extraordinarily intimate experience.”—Marilyn
Stasio, The New York Times Book Review“[An] accomplished debut . .
. In Appalachia, a young outlaw, Jacob McNeely, struggles to escape
what Faulkner called that “old fierce pull of blood,” a violent
meth-dealing father, the dark legacies of an unforgiving place and
the terrible miseries it breeds. [A] beautiful, brutal
book.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Readers of Southern grit lit in the tradition of Daniel Woodrell
and Harry Crews will enjoy this fast-paced debut thriller. Fans of
Ron Rash’s novels will appreciate the intricate plot and Joy’s
establishment of a strong sense of place in his depiction of rural
Appalachia.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Bound to draw comparisons to Daniel Woodrell's Winter's
Bone...[Joy's] moments of poetic cognizance are the stuff of fine
fiction, lyrical sweets that will keep readers turning
pages...Where All Light Tends To Go is a book that discloses itself
gradually, like a sunrise peeking over a distant mountain
range...If [Joy's next] novel is anything like his first, it'll be
worth the wait.”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Joy’s first novel is an uncompromising noir, its downward thrust
pulling like quicksand on both the characters and the reader. And,
yet, there is poetry here, too, as there is in Daniel Woodrell’s
novels, the kind of poetry that draws its power from a doomed
character’s grit in the face of disaster. . . This is the start of
a very promising fiction-writing career.”—Booklist
“Gripping . . . Engaging characters, a well-realized setting, and
poetic prose establish Joy as a novelist worth
watching.”—Publishers Weekly
“Joy’s debut is about hope as much as it is fate . . . [it] is
harrowing. Joy’s voice is authentic, his prose sparse, his
eye for detail minute. Everything works in this novel to push
the reader closer and closer to the cliff’s edge, hoping against
hope that what won’t be required is to jump off.”—Mountain
Times“Joy works with the materials many call the stuff of “country
noir.” The result calls to mind the work of powerful writers such
as Ron Rash, Daniel Woodrell, Mark Powell, and Cormac McCarthy . .
. Joy has crafted a piece of masterful fiction. His sense of
pace, his ability to catch the reader off guard with explosive and
often upsetting incidents, his way with the shape of a chapter—all
herald a major young writer.”—Still: The Journal“Where All Light
Tends to Go is lyrical, propulsive, dark and compelling. In
this debut novel, David Joy makes it clear that he knows well the
grit and gravel of his world, the soul and blemishes of the place.
He uses details that put us inside the picture, and lets his
narrative move at a graceful but restless pace.”—Daniel Woodrell,
author of Winter’s Bone and The Maid’s Version
“David Joy has written a savage and moving account of a young man’s
attempt to transcend his family’s legacy of violence. Where
All Light Tends to Go is an outstanding debut and a fine addition
to the country noir vein of Southern Literature.”—Ron Rash,
PEN/Faulkner Finalist and New York Times bestselling author of
Serena
“Where All Light Tends to Go is deeply rooted in place, written in
an assured, authentic voice. David Joy manages to be both lyrical
and gritty, loving and horrifyingly violent, funny and grim. His
picture of modern Appalachia is rich and evocative, with bold
storytelling not often seen in a first novel. This book is an
amazing start to a career that could make Joy the Larry Brown of
the Appalachians.”—Ace Atkins, New York Times-bestselling author of
The Forsaken
“Compelling and authentic . . . a harsh tale of young love’s tender
hopes set against the brutal realities of ruined Appalachia. Jacob
McNeely’s story is one worth reading.”—Tawni O’Dell, New York
Times-bestselling author of Back Roads
“David Joy writes under the auspices of community, heartbreak, and
love, and makes use of the warmest color in fiction - gray. What is
right and what is wrong and who is to decide? In the North Carolina
mountains, these answers don't come easy. Big decisions come with
big consequences, and if you second guess, you lose.”—Michael
Farris Smith, author of Rivers and The Hands of Strangers
“Running with the dopers, drunks and less fortunate in my youth,
those who were doomed by their surroundings, the story that David
Joy tells is one of truth, power and circumstance and quite
possibly a tour de force in American letters.”—Frank Bill, author
of Crimes in Southern Indiana and Donnybrook
“Where All Light Tends to Go reads like the whiskey-breath of
Harry Crews word-drunk on the lyricism of Daniel Woodrell. It's as
brutally beautiful as it is heartbreaking.”—Mark Powell, author of
The Dark Corner
“David Joy gives us a world that is equal parts graceful beauty and
true grit in this poetic and heart-pounding novel. Where All
Light Tends to Go contains those essential elements for a novel
that ‘sticks to the ribs’: complex and memorable characters,
a palpable sense of place, and a plot that is driven as much by
suspense as lyricism. You won't be able to put down this
profoundly moving and illuminating look into a mysterious and
intricate world where the smell of the southern pines mingles with
the scent of cooking meth.”—Silas House, author of Clay's Quilt and
Eli the Good
“David Joy's Where All Light Tends to Go will be compared to a
handful of grit lit masterpieces, but Joy's his own writer.
It's a double page turner--I couldn't stop reading, but I
relished each page twice, mesmerized by the language and plot
twists. For every scene of evil personified, there's goodness.
For every horrific act of lawless characters, there's the
sublime. I'll remember—and be haunted by—this novel for a
long, long time.”—George Singleton, author of Between Wrecks
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