"Perfect timing is all Ford Clayton, a music professor, needs to find the meaning of art and love and life itself..." Ford sets out on a mission to rescue his first love from the ranks of the homeless, to confront his past and define his future, and possibly to save himself from the midlife crisis that threatens to overwhelm his life.

Perfect Timing (Contemporary American Fiction)

Comics & Graphic Novels

Williams, Philip Lee

Graphic Novels

Penguin??Books

In the spring of 1864, the Confederate Army in Georgia is faced with the onrushing storm of General William T. Sherman's troops. A young sharpshooter for the South, Charlie Merrill, who has suffered many losses in his life already, must find a way to endure---and grow---if he is to survive the battles that will culminate in July at the gates of Atlanta. From the opening salvos on Rocky Face Ridge near Dalton, through the trials of Resaca and Kennesaw Mountain, Charlie must face the overwhelming force of the Federal army and a growing uncertainty about his place in the war. Never before has the Atlanta Campaign been rendered---in all its swift and terrible action---with such attention to history or with writing that reaches the level of art. This crucial episode in the Civil War's western theater comes alive with unexcelled power and drama as it unfolds in soldiers' hands and hearts. Throughout the course of the novel, Charlie's life is laid out in powerful detail. The experiences from his childhood, through the war, and into his twilight years are to a great extent on his mind half a century later when he is to give a major speech in the park of his small Georgia town A Distant Flame is a book about the cost of war and the running conflict that led Sherman's Army to the Battle of Atlanta---and the March to the Sea. It stands as a testament to love, dedication, and growth, from the Civil War's fields of fire to the slow steps of old age.

A Distant Flame

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

Thomas Dunne Books

Winner of the Michael Shaara Award In the spring of 1984, the Confederate Army in Georgia is faced with the onrushing storm of General William T. Sherman's troops. A young sharpshooter fo the South, Charlie Merrill, who has suffered many losses in his life already, must find a way to endure--and grow--if he is to survive the battles that will culminate in July at the gates of Atlanta. A Distant Flame is a historical novel about the cost of war and the running conflict that led Sherman's army to the Battle of Atlanta--and the March to the Sea. "It is a must-read . . . a moving and beautifully crafted story that leaves one with hope for humankind's redemption."--Civil War Book Review "Williams writes in an unadorned style that gathers momentum slowly and subtly."--The Atlanta-Journal Constitution "This strikingly fine novel leaves an indelible impression on the reader long after he puts it down . . . As Stephen Crane once said about Civil War historical writing, ' I want to be there.' In A Distant Flame, Mr. Williams takes us there, and it's a landscape that captures the heart."--Robert J. Mrazek, author of Unholy Fire and Stonewall's Gold "A powerful work that surely will become a classic of Civil War fiction. A superb book."--Robert K. Krick, author of Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain "A Distant Flame takes a sultry summer day in 1914 and weaves it into a page-turning tale of Civil War Georgia . . . Philip Lee Williams's bittersweet story of life, love, and loss in a small Southern town will touch your heart and move you to tears."--David Evans, author of Sherman's Horsemen "The dramatic wartime events of A Distant Flame are written in the heart of Charlie Merrill--sharpshooter, lover, pilgrim, and friend of General Cleburne. This intense and memorable story of battlefield and hearth tells us that it is high time to assess and treasure the work of Philip Lee Williams."--Marly Youmans, author of The Wolf Pit, winner of the Michael Shaara Award "A Distant Flame is the best story yet written about the Atlanta campaign and life on the home front in Civil War Georgia. It is also much more. It blends scrupulously researched history with powerful narrative to produce a compelling, multidimensional story of one man's life as shaped by the Civil War over a span of fifty years. It is a story of war, love, and community in a small north Georgia town, brilliantly told, full of insights into the complex impact of the Civil War on everyday Southerners."--Thomas G. Dyer, author of Secret Yankees: The Union Circle in Confederate Atlanta "More than 80,000 books have been written about the American Civil War--and, with authoritative, vividly rendered battle scenes, Williams earns a place . . . in the upper quadrant."--Kirkus Reviews

St. Martin's: Griffin

The heart of a distant forest

Retired to his family home on a Georgia lake and facing death, former history professor Andrew Lachlin becomes alive to the wonders of nature and enters new relationships with a country boy named Willie Sullivan and a former love, Callie MacKenzie

The Heart of a Distant Forest

Ballantine Books

All the Western Stars

Jake and Lucas escape from the nursing home where they both feel imprisoned and set out to recapture the thrills and vitality they experienced as young men through adventure, danger, and love

Genre Fiction

Daniel, a sensitive young man psychologically traumatized by witnessing a brutal murder as a small child, begins to emerge from his innocent world into normalcy, because of his relationship with Rebecca, a divorced English professor

The Song of Daniel

Retired to his family home on a Georgia lake and facing death, former history professor Andrew Lachlan becomes alive to the wonders of nature and enters new relationships with a country boy named Willie Sullivan and a former love, Callie MacKenzie

W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.

A one-time minor league ballplayer turned private eye, Hank Prince becomes involved in the search for Anthony Browning, an old friend whose disappearance may have something to do with a priceless artifact that turns up

Slow Dance in Autumn

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Dell

Random House Value Publishing

ALL THE WESTERN STARS is a memorable story, filled with universal fears and truths.  A story of two men chasing a hurrying sundown.  Jake Baker, a seventy-three-year-old former construction worker who walked the high steel, suddenly finds himself ill and relegated to an old folks' home by his insensitive niece.  There he regains his health and meets Lucas Kraft, the shell of a famous novelist, a former National Book Award winner who is searching for the remnants of his talent and his life.  Two men from vastly different backgrounds with a commonbond-they're both on the run.  Running from their pasts, from their mortality, from the fear of dying unfulfilled.  Jake and Lucas break out of the nursing home and head west.  Like children, they want to be cowboys; like old men, they want to experience life, raw and thrilling, once more while they can.  Lucas wants to find a range ware where he can prove his manhood:  "I will become part of legend, and they will write songs about me, how I rode in from the East and became one of them so fast, how I helped rid them of the civil robber barons from town."  Jake wants proof that he's still emotionally alive, and he finds it in the comforting arms of Betty Silver, a good-natured, foul-mouthed woman who is searching for her estranged daughter.  As broad as the western sky.  As warm as a Texas summer night.  ALL THE WESTERN STARS, the beguiling second novel from Philip Lee Williams, will hold you as surely as barbed wire, as gently as a hug.

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

Books by Williams, Philip Lee

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

Perfect Timing (Contemporary American Fiction)

A Distant Flame

A Distant Flame

The Heart of a Distant Forest

All the Western Stars

The Song of Daniel

The Heart of a Distant Forest

Slow Dance in Autumn

Slow Dance in Autumn

All the Western Stars