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2023 Longlist

A Particular Madness

ABOUT
THE BOOK

Growing up in the rural impoverishment of post-Depression Oklahoma, and surrounded by feuding family factions, free-spirited Jacob Roland hungers for knowledge and a world beyond his reach. But dark forces are growing in Jacob, twisting with the same ruthless, relentless power of a tornado across the Oklahoma prairies. Jacob battles against these aberrant forces, but, trapped by poverty and a growing mental illness, he is thwarted at every turn. For every light—a chance at college, the love of a poised, sophisticated woman—there is a greater darkness within him. Failed by circumstance, community, and his own mental health, is there an escape for Jacob’s bright, wounded spirit, or will he forever be a prisoner of a particular madness?

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Sheldon
Russell

Sheldon Russell taught at the University of Louisville and the University of Central Oklahoma. He is the award-winning author of nine novels, including The Yard Dog and The Insane Train from his beloved Hook Runyon Mystery Series and Dreams to Dust, which won the 2006 Langum prize for Historical Literature and the 2007 Oklahoma Book Award. He lives in Oklahoma.

Sheldon Russell taught at the University of Louisville and the University of Central Oklahoma. He is the award-winning author of nine novels, including The Yard Dog and The Insane Train from his beloved Hook Runyon Mystery Series and Dreams to Dust, which won the 2006 Langum prize for Historical Literature and the 2007 Oklahoma Book Award. He lives in Oklahoma.

NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

In his novel, Russell explores mental illness through the experience of the main character: Jacob Roland. Set in Oklahoma, the novel showcases the reality of rural America at a time when mental illness was often misunderstood and mistreated, as it still is today. –  Oklahoma Department of Libraries, USA

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
26/10/2021
Country
United States
Original Language
English
Publisher
Cennan Books of Cynren Press

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