Thirsty: A Novel

by Kristin Bair O'Keeffe

Overview

It is 1883, and all of Klara Bozic’s girlish dreams have come crashing down as she arrives in Thirsty, a gritty steel town carved into the slopes above the Monongahela River just outside of Pittsburgh. She has made a heartbreaking discovery. Her new husband Drago is as abusive as the father she left behind in Croatia.

In Kristin Bair O’Keeffe’s debut novel, Klara’s life unfolds over forty years as she struggles to find her place in a new country where her survival depends on the friends who nurture her: gutsy, funny Katherine Zupanovic, who isn‘t afraid of Drago’s fist; BenJo, the only black man in Thirsty to have his own shop; and strangely enough, Old Man Rupert, the town drunk.

Thirsty follows a chain of unlikely events that keep Klara’s spirit aloft: a flock of angelic butterflies descends on Thirsty; Klara gives birth to her first child in Old Man Rupert’s pumpkin patch; and BenJo gives her a talking bird. When Klara’s daughter marries a man even more brutal than Drago, Klara is forced to act. If she doesn’t finally break the cycle of violence in her family, her granddaughters will one day walk the same road, broken and bruised. As the threads that hold her family together fray and come undone, Klara has to decide if she has the courage to carve out a peaceful spot in the world for herself and her girls.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804040389
Publisher:	Ohio University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	410 KB

About the Author

Kristin Bair O’Keeffe has an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Poets & Writers Magazine, the Baltimore Review, and the Gettysburg Review. She lives in Shanghai, China.

Editorial Reviews

O’Keeffe chronicles the troubling story of a late 19th-century Croatian émigrée whose expectations that life in a Pittsburgh steel town will brighten her fortunes are harshly dashed. Born and raised on a farm in Croatia, Klara is taken by a handsome young transient, Drago Bozic, who urges her to accompany him to Thirsty, Pa., where his brother works in the steel mills. After the recent death of her mother, Klara wants to flee her grim life, which consists mostly of taking care of her siblings and being battered by her angry father. Yet almost as soon as the affectionate young married couple arrives in Thirsty, Drago grows hard and volatile, beating Klara routinely, and Klara recognizes that she has accepted her mother’s fate. After the one neighbor who steps in during their fights is killed in the mill, Klara is left without a protector, and her inability to leave Drago casts a generational pall over the family, as their daughter also marries a batterer. O’Keeffe’s debut gracefully encapsulates the working-class cycle of poverty and hopelessness in the lives of these hard-laboring, sympathetic wives and mothers. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

O’Keeffe’s debut gracefully encapsulates the working-class cycle of poverty and hopelessness in the lives of these hard-laboring, sympathetic wives and mothers.”—Publishers Weekly


“With important—and contemporary—issues at stake in the life of a fully fleshed character, the novel has the makings of a savored read. And O’Keeffe’s succulent language quenches a thirst.”—ForeWord Reviews


“What I liked most: The writing. The writing is beautiful…. Recommend it to? Anyone who likes reading character-driven books. The writing is beautiful so it’s well worth a read.”—Kay’s Bookshelf


“This is a multi-layered book that cannot be read too quickly. It is a novel about domestic abuse, social class, stereotypes, prejudice, sexuality, faith, and friendship. Kristin Bair O’Keeffe’s poetic writing grasps the reader and does not let go until the final words of the last chapter. Her descriptions of tragedy and loss are so gut wrenching! At times, I found myself holding my breath.”—Author Exposure Book Club


An “intelligent, poignant and well-written novel…. A must read.”—Story Circle Book Reviews


“This is a multi-layered book that cannot be read too quickly. It is a novel about domestic abuse, social class, stereotypes, prejudice, sexuality, faith, and friendship. Kristin Bair O’Keeffe’s poetic writing grasps the reader and does not let go until the final words of the last chapter. Her descriptions of tragedy and loss are so gut wrenching! At times, I found myself holding my breath.”
— Author Exposure Book Club


“What I liked most: The writing. The writing is beautiful…. Recommend it to? Anyone who likes reading character-driven books. The writing is beautiful so it’s well worth a read.”
— Kay’s Bookshelf


“With important—and contemporary—issues at stake in the life of a fully fleshed character, the novel has the makings of a savored read. And O’Keeffe’s succulent language quenches a thirst.”
— ForeWord Reviews

From the Publisher