Clarinet Polka

Advance praise forThe Clarinet Polka "Deeply and authentically rooted in Polish-American culture,The Clarinet Polkaalso brilliantly resonates into the universal human condition. Keith Maillard has created a fictional landscape in and around Raysburg, West Virginia, that brims with life as we all live it. This is a remarkable novel from an important writer." - Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winning author ofA Good Scent from a Strange Mountain "Great novels immerse their readers into a world previously unknown and by that test alone, this is a great novel. A West Virginia Polish community is the setting for this touching story, a place where dreamers, misfits, lost souls, saints, and sinners all dance to the rhythm of the joyful polka which will, given time, heal all their wounds. I promise these are people you will never forget and will be glad you got to know." - Homer H. Hickam, Jr., bestselling author ofRocket Boys "Encore! I'll play over and again in my mind this hard-edged, sweet-souled story of a heart's homecoming." - Suzanne Strempek Shea, author ofSongs From a Lead-Lined RoomandHoopi Shoopi Donna Praise forGloria "Keith Maillard gets the details right . . . succeeds in building a gilded, crinoline-draped labyrinth and watching his lithe, artful protagonist wiggle and reason her way to freedom." -New York Times Book Review "A mesmerizing story . . . succeeds in prompting reflection on the nature of authenticity in a culture that easily surrenders to stereotypes and sound bites." -Boston Sunday Globe "Beautifully detailed . . . enormously entertaining." -Marie Claire "Recalls Balzac or George Eliot. . . . Meticulously observed, immensely satisfying." -Kirkus Reviews(starred review) "A merciless and accurate picture of the power grid of American class and gender at mid-century, a meditation on the nature of human consciousness and creativity, an investigation into the horrors and delights of emergent sexuality, an homage to the powers of friendship between women. . . . This is a book that delivers profound pleasures of the body, the mind, and the spirit." -Vancouver SunMaillard, Keith is the author of 'Clarinet Polka', published 2004 under ISBN 9780312308902 and ISBN 0312308906.