The Ploughmen

Description

Kim Zupan is a singular talent, a writer whose voice and sensibility earn comparison to the likes of Cormac McCarthy and Tom Franklin. The story of two men - a killer awaiting trial, and a troubled young deputy - sitting across from each other in the dark, talking through the bars of a county jail cell. John Gload, so brutally adept at his craft that only now, at the age of 71, has he faced the prospect of long-term incarceration; and Valentine Millimaki, low man in the Copper County sheriff's department, who draws the overnight shift after Gload's arrest, tasked with getting the killer to talk about a string of unsolved murders. With a disintegrating marriage now further collapsing under the strain of his night duty, and his safety threatened from within his own department, Millimaki finds himself seeking counsel from a remorseless criminal. The strange intimacy of their connection takes a startling turn with a brazen act of violence, a manhunt, and a stunning revelation that leave Gload's past and Millimaki's future forever entwined.

Reviews

"In a voice that evokes the great contemporary Western landscape, Kim Zupan's debut novel The Ploughmen weaves a gripping tale both personal and epic. This is a story of two men, a deputy and his prisoner, and the uncommon bond forged between them. A stunning work from the first pages to the last, this is a book that will not let down.' (Claire Davis, author of Winter Range and Labors of the Heart') "The Ploughmen is simply splendid; lyrical, surprising, authoritative and starkly honest in its rendering of the human soul. The relationships between Mr. Zupan's complex and heartbreaking characters gripped me from the first page and have left me wondering still at the grace that affords us moments of generosity and compassion.' (Mark Spragg, author of An Unfinished Life') "Kim Zupan has captured the feel of Montana: He has made a fine beginning.' (Larry McMurtry, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lonesome Dove')"

Author description

Kim Zupan is a native Montanan who grew up in and around Great Falls, where much of The Ploughmen is set. For twenty-five years Zupan made his living as a carpenter while pursuing his writing. He was a collegiate and professional bareback rider and has worked as a ranch hand, smelterman and salmon purse seine fisherman. He holds an MFA from the University of Montana. At present he teaches carpentry at Missoula College University of Montana.