by J. L. Carr
First published 1986
George Gidner teaches at Balaclava Road Elementary in Bradford when an unexpected opportunity arrives. He can spend a year teaching in America. The prospect seems too good to be true. It is. Gidner arrives in Palisades, South Dakota, to find a Depression-struck town that crushes the spirit. The place sits in the middle of nowhere, offering mind-numbing awfulness at every turn. American dreams collapse into nightmares here. Among the local obsessions is something called the Battle of Pollocks Crossing, a historical fixation that reveals the town's deeper troubles. Gidner must navigate this alien landscape where hope withers and the promised land delivers only disappointment. The story explores what happens when escape leads not to freedom but to a different kind of trap.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, academic
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unfulfilled-dreams
Setting: America, Balaclava Road Elementary, Bradford, Palisades, South Dakota
Period: Depression
176 pages · Paperback · Penguin