[London]: Bloomsbury, 1999. Hardcover. Small 4to. Black cloth, pictorial dust jacket. 279pp. Sewn-in green silk page marker. Fine/near fine. First English edition of this novel about an ailing heart surgeon out on his last hunt in central Washington, signed large and bold by Guterson in black fineline on the title page.

Synopsis

It is mid-October, 1997, harvest time in the Columbia Basin of central Washington state, a rich apple- and pear-growing region. Ben Givens, recently widowed, is a retired heart surgeon, once admired for his steadiness of hand, his precision, his endurance. He has terminal colon cancer. While Ben does not readily accept defeat, he is determined to avoid suffering rather than engage it. And so, accompanied by his two hunting dogs, he sets out through the mythic American West-sage deserts, yawning canyons, dusty ranches, vast orchards-on his last hunt. The main issues for Ben as a doctor had been tactical and so it would be with his death. But he hadn't considered the persuasiveness of memory-the promise he made to his wife Rachel, the love of his life, during World War II. Or life's mystery. On his journey he meets a young couple who are "forever," a drifter offering left-handed advice that might lessen the pain, a veterinarian with a touch only a heart surgeon would recognize, a rancher bent on destruction, a migrant worker who tests Ben's ability to understand. And just when he thinks there is no turning back, nothing to lose that wasn't lost, his power of intervention is called upon and his very identity tested. Full of humanity, passion, and moral honesty, East of the Mountains is a bold and beautiful novel of personal discovery.

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Details

Bookseller: Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts, ABAA (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #: 31061
Title: East of the Mountains
Author: GUTERSON, David
Format/Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Used
Quantity Available: 1
ISBN 10: 0747539855
ISBN 13: 9780747539858
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Place of Publication: [London]
Date Published: 1999
Bookseller catalogs: Books; Modern Fiction;

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Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts, ABAA

Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts accepts most major credit cards and PayPal. Checks are welcome. Institutions will be accommodated as their procedures require. Every effort has been made to describe each book and any defects accurately. If an item proves unsatisfactory for any reason, it may be returned within seven days. We would appreciate a courtesy call if an item is being returned. Member ABAA, ILAB, MWABA, The Manuscript Society.

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About Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts, ABAA

Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts has been serving book lovers, collectors and institutions since 1991. Our inventory of quality out-of-print books spans 50 subjects, while the extensive autograph holdings have a decidedly historical bent, reflecting personages from every field of human endeavor.

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Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Jacket: Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
Cloth: "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
Fine: A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
Title Page: A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...