Publisher's Synopsis
The Columbia space shuttle and its contents rain down on the people of Kiser, Texas, in Kathryn Schwilles imaginative debut novel set six weeks before the invasion of Iraq.What Luck, This Life begins in the aftermath of the space shuttles break-up, as the people of Piney Woods watch their pastures swarm with searchers and reporters bluster at their doors. A shop owner defends herself against a sexual predator who is pushed to new boldness after he is disinvited to his family reunion. A closeted father facing a divorce that will leave his gifted boy adrift retrieves an astronauts remains. An engineer who dreams of orbiting earth joins a search for debris and instead uncovers an old neighbors buried longing.In a chorus of voices spanning places and years, What Luck, This Life explores the Columbia disasters surprising fallout for a town beset by the tensions of class, race, and missed opportunity. Evoking Sherwood Andersons classic Winesburg, Ohio and Elizabeth Strouts Olive Kitteridge, the novels unforgettable characters struggle with family upheaval and mortalitys grip and a luminous book emergesfilled with heartache, beauty, and warmth.
