Night Navigation opens on a freezing-rain night in upstate New York: the kindling gone, the fire in the woodstove out. Del’s thirty-seven-year-old manic-depressive son needs a ride, but she’s afraid to make the long drive north to the only detox that has a bed. Through the four seasons, Night Navigation takes us into the deranged, darkly humorous world of the addict—from break-your-arm dealers, to boot-camp rehabs, to Rumi-quoting NA sponsors. Al-Anon tells Del to “let go”; NAMI tells her to “hang on.” Mark cannot find a way to live in this world. Del cannot stop trying to rescue him. And yet, during this long year’s night, through relapse and despair, they see flare-ups of hope as Mark and Del fitfully, painfully try to steer toward the light. Told in the alternating voices of an addict and his mother, this riveting novel adds new depths to our understanding and our literature of parents and their troubled children.

Night Navigation

Literature & Fiction

Howard, Ginnah

United States

Houghton, mifflin, harcourt

Night Navigation: A Novel

Dramas & Plays

Mariner Books

Fiction. Compelling, gritty and funny, DOING TIME OUTSIDE travels the back roads of family life to better understand what it means to be tied by blood and love to the world of mental illness, addiction and incarceration. Through compassion for her characters and the bouyancy of her voice, Howard gives us a novel with a generous and intelligent heart. "Catskill's wordsmith Howard has a gift for the choice, mundane detail: the vinegar chips and Advil headaches and warmth of a dog's fur on a cold day. Her turf is the Upstate New York just outside of the weekender realm, and her people are fiercely smart and loving throughout their frustrations and misunderstandings. You start really, really wanting Rudy to make it, a topic around which Howard builds mind- bending suspense. It all comes together in a knockout ending—Howard's characters have grown and so have we. A beautiful read."—Chronogram

Doing Time Outside

Literary

Standing Stone Books

Rope &amp; Bone traces the parallel, and eventually interwoven, lives of two very different women whose courage, originality and humor will carry them through the darkest of times and the toughest things that life can sling at them. Rope &amp; Bone’s thirty-four story/chapters span the years from 1946 to 1993. The novel opens in 1984 on Chicken Farm Road when Del Merrick, an art teacher living without plumbing or electricity, enlists help in changing a flat tire from Carla Morletti, a member of the Pagan Biker’s auxiliary, now studying for her G.E.D. This chance connection between these two women will reroute their lives and the lives of their children. The first section of the novel, “Wildest Dreams,” flashes back to pivotal moments in the past. Part 2, “Castanets,” tells of Carla and Del’s misadventures as they try to raise their kids, get their old cars started on subzero mornings, and put in enough wood to get through until April— at the same time they’re testing their theory: a good man’s hard to find. In Part 3, “Shelter,” Carla and Del’s friendship darkens as their children’s lives become more chaotic.

Rope & Bone: A Novel in Stories

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

It’s the first day of school at Stanton Central High. The teacher stands by the door as ready as she’s going to be. The 6B Improvement of Language Skills class bursts in: Neal, with a shaved head; Joe, wearing three earrings; Vance, in dark glasses and a heavy navy jacket, the same one he wore the few days he attended last year… plus the other fourteen. “I’m hungry”… “I hate English” … “I’m sick of this already.” And so the new year begins. We will be with them for two semesters and we will get to know them all. We’ll read their poems and journals. Be in on their muttered remarks and jokes. We’ll see what they put in their Time Capsules and hear what they have to say in their interviews. We’ll listen to their discussions as they watch Great Expectations. Many of us will come to care about all of them and be sad when some of them run away or get arrested or become pregnant. We’ll understand why this teacher is relieved when Stan and Mike are both absent on a subzero Monday in the middle of February. Lots of days, we’ll give her a gold star for her efforts.

I'm Sick of This Already: At-Risk Learning in a High School Class

Education & Teaching

Schools & Teaching

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Howard, Ginnah. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Howard, Ginnah