The Trackers
The stunning new novel from the author of international million-copy bestseller Cold Mountain
Hurtling past the downtrodden communities of Depression-era America, painter Val Welch travels westward to the rural town of Dawes, Wyoming. Through a stroke of luck, he’s landed a New Deal assignment to create a mural representing the region for their new Post Office.
A wealthy art lover named John Long and his wife Eve have agreed to host Val at their sprawling ranch. Rumors and intrigue surround the couple: Eve left behind an itinerant life riding the rails and singing in a western swing band. Long holds shady political aspirations, but was once a WWI sniper—and his right hand is a mysterious elder cowboy, a vestige of the violent old west. Val quickly finds himself entranced by their lives.
One day, Eve flees home with a valuable painting in tow, and Long recruits Val to hit the road with a mission of tracking her down. Journeying from ramshackle Hoovervilles to San Francisco nightclubs to the swamps of Florida, Val’s search for Eve narrows, and he soon turns up secrets that could spark formidable changes for all of them.
”'First-rate storytelling” - Wall Street Journal
”'A novel of suspense with an all-American sting” - Washington Post
”'Beautiful, burly sentences full of arid geography and heavy weather” - Nick Duerden, Observer
‘Charles Frazier’s historical fiction has explored the canyon-like gap between American mythology and the harsh reality of American life. His latest book, The Trackers, an engaging tale of love, loss and violence during the Great Depression, couldn’t arrive at a more appropriate time… A barrelling period piece, The Trackers has plenty of contemporary resonance in its depiction of conflict… -
”Frazier has produced an entertaining mystery of drifters and grifters, chancers and chisellers. But, more importantly, he has caught the desperation of the times” - Christian House, Financial Times
”'A densely layered portrait of a country imbued with the pioneering spirit despite being riddled with poverty. Workmanlike in the very best sense.” - Max Davidson, Mail on Sunday
Praise for Cold Mountain: -
'A beautiful book, written in exquisite prose' Kate Atkinson -
'Magnificent' Observer -
”'A remarkable first novel, a romance of love, of friendship, of family, of land. Frazier has inhaled the spirit of the age and breathes it into the reader's being.” - The Times