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2004 Nominated

That Old Ace in the Hole

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ABOUT
THE BOOK

Some folks in the Texas panhandle do not like hog farms. But Bob Dollar, the newly hired hog site scout for Global Pork Rind, intends to do his job. He is determined not to turn out like his parents who left him on his Uncle Tam’s doorstep as a child. And he is afflicted by the tendency to believe his own daydreams – to the point of forgetting that he made them up in the first place.
Bob ends up in Woolybucket, a town whose idiosyncratic inhabitants have ridden out all manner of booms and busts in panhandle country – cattle ranching, tornadoes, dust storms, gas and oil days, feedlot proliferation. These tough men and women seem to grow stronger with age, seasoned by the rigours of their life, from ancient Freda Beautyrooms who controls a ranch Bob covets, to Ace Crouch, the windmiller who defies the hog farms. They aren’t the only obstacles in Bob’s path. As he settles in at La Von Fronk’s bunkhouse and lends a hand at Cy Frease’s Old Dog CafĂ©, Bob is forced to question everything.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Annie
Proulx

Annie Proulx is the author of eight books, including the novel The Shipping News and the story collection Close Range. Her many honours include a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, the Irish Times International fiction Prize and a PEN/Faulkner award. Her story Brokeback Mountain, which originally appeared in the New Yorker, was made into an Academy Award-winning film. She lives in Seattle.

Annie Proulx is the author of eight books, including the novel The Shipping News and the story collection Close Range. Her many honours include a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, the Irish Times International fiction Prize and a PEN/Faulkner award. Her story Brokeback Mountain, which originally appeared in the New Yorker, was made into an Academy Award-winning film. She lives in Seattle.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
16/09/2024
Country
United States
Original Language
English
Author
Publisher
Fourth Estate, Scribner

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