Faron Goss

by Diane Lechleitner

Overview

Winner of the 2021 Foreword Reviews Indies Award for General Fiction

When the body of Alison Goss washes up on Menhaden Island, in the Gulf of Maine, the working-class fishing community of hard-hewn ways and salty perspectives is faced with handling the future of her unusual son, Faron. They soon discover how different he is, in strange but endearing ways, including his fascination with moths and his stunning artistic talent. Bound together by weather and sea, Menhaden neighbors with good hearts and blunt opinions overlook Faron's peculiarities. But their nurturing embrace cannot completely erase his troubled past, which eventually morphs into a life-changing event and forces him to confront lingering memories. Faron faces that which haunts him, works as a sternman on a lobster boat, and paints in his studio. When he meets a bird-watching woman who has returned to Menhaden to live in her grandparent's house, his life takes another unexpected turn.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781950584512
Publisher:	Green Writers Press
Publication date:	08/03/2021
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Diane Lechleitner’s poems and short stories have appeared in numerous literary magazines. Faron Goss is her first novel. In addition to writing fiction, Diane has exhibited her visual art, received an Exxon Award for Printmaking, was a recipient of several artist residencies, and worked in ateliers printing etchings for artists, including Peter Max and Salvador Dali. She now writes full-time and lives along the Hudson River in Sleepy Hollow, New York, with her husband Douglas Maass, their beloved dog, Bracken, and Flynnbean the cat.

Editorial Reviews

"Faron Goss lost his mother at a young age and the story weaves its way through Faron’s complicated life. Throughout are lighter gems . . . lessons of bird life on the coast of Maine, the natural and art worlds that bring Faron comfort and healing — all while interweaving the theme of grief and loss.” —Stacia Chapman, Bookish Maine

"The author masterfully captures Faron's youthful peculiarities with tantalizing restraint; she consistently avoids inserting authorial judgments, which makes the account particularly chilling." —Kirkus Reviews

"Readers looking for a poetic, evocative description of coming of age in a Maine lobstering community will find Farron Goss a lovely literary piece that comes full circle into love . . . a tender, expressive story of a very different young man which brings to mind the gentle local color embedded in the best-selling Where the Crawdads Sing." —Midwest Book Review

"Faron Goss is a heartfelt, empathic tale that tells the story of young Faron from a difficult birth and early childhood to adulthood. Faron's subtle, quiet observations as he struggles through life and discovers the redemptive force of art touch the heart." —Mary L. Tabor, author of Who By Fire

With vivid prose, Lechleitner depicts the beauty and hardship of life on Menhaden Island, the interwoven relationships of its crusty but close-knit residents, and the complex, unassuming boy who works his way into their hearts. Faron Goss is, in every way, a beautiful first novel." —Darcie Chan, New York Times bestselling author of The Mill River Recluse

"Farron Goss is an incredibly well-written and considered novel with an intense and compelling protagonist. The story intrigues from the beginning, and combined with the descriptive beauty of the brooding, atmospheric landscape and wonderfully convincing characters, the book is a quietly powerful and absorbing read." —IndieReader

From the Publisher