Synopsis:
This sweeping allegorical tale begins with the escape of a Gypsy princess and her young lover from her father’s camp in 1851, recalling the flight of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The boy steals Prodigal, a sailing ship blessed with unnatural speed, and the lovers escape to sea, leaving the father to grieve for the loss and pine for the return of his child. More than 150 years later on Ocracoke Island we meet Aidan Sharpe, an aging lawyer, as he rises from the sand of a remote beach after a lost weekend. In a strange foreboding, one woman gives him wine and another gives him water just as his world is about to be consumed by scandal. While struggling to rebuild his life in this lonely outpost of the Outer Banks, Aidan is caught up in a two-thousand-year-old mystery that unfolds with the sudden reappearance of Prodigal off the coast, adrift and unmanned. Its discovery will lead Aidan and those close to him into the deep, in a race between time and eternity.
Exciting news!
The Prodigal was chosen as a finalist along with four other novels by reviewers for the 2013 annual BookBundlz Book Club Pick contest. The finalists were announced on August 1. This is an annual contest to select the best novel for thousands of book club members around the world. The reviewers selected the finalists, but the winning book, to be named on September 1, will be determined solely by the greatest number of votes from the general public between now and August 31. People can sign up at the BookBundlz website to vote once per day and see where each of the five finalists stands in the running day by day. VOTE HERE
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Trailer:
About the Author:
Michael Hurley lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife Susan. Born in Baltimore in 1958, he studied English at the University of Maryland and law at St. Louis University. His debut novel, The Prodigal (Ragbagger Press, 2013), is the story of a troubled lawyer who is trying to rebuild his life on Ocracoke Island when he discovers that his destiny is tied to a mysterious schooner that drifts ashore. Kirkus Reviews called it “stirring, romantic and evocative of the sea’s magic.” ForeWord Clarion Review described it as “a masterpiece of artistic imagination.”
Michael’s first book, Letters from the Woods (Ragbagger Press, 2005), is a collection of essays about life drawn from the canoe trips he took with his young children between 1995 and 2003 while publishing the quarterly journal, Paddle & Portage. The Wilmington Star-News described it as “one of those books you pick up like a comfy old shirt to relax in. . . Whimsical . . . Elegiac . . .” and wrote that “Hurley, like Hemingway, glories in the job cleanly done. ” The Raleigh News & Observer described it as “pointed, personal, and poignant. A deep and passionate tale of wilderness adventures. A celebration of universal truths. Well worth reading.”
Michael’s memoir, Once Upon A Gypsy Moon (Hachette, 2013), grew out of an improbable solo sailing-voyage from Annapolis to the Dominican Republic over two years that was part pilgrimage, part protest, and part penance. It’s a star-crossed love story wrapped within a rollicking good sea tale that Kirkus Reviews called “a striking memoir of personal discovery.”
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The Giveaway:
Michael is kindly giving away 2 copies of his book, paperback or eBook winner’s choice! Just enter the rafflecopter below. Ends 8/16 and open internationally for the eBook option only. Paperback copy US only.
You can enter once each day!
