Acclaimed Canadian novelist Patrick deWitt, is shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his second novel, The Sisters Brothers, which was also shortlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize.
About the Book
Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as the Commodore has ordered it, and his henchmen, Eli and Charlie Sisters, will make sure of it. Though Eli doesn't share his brother's appetite for whisky and killing, he's never known anything else. But their prey isn't an easy mark, and on the road from Oregon City to Warm's gold-mining claim outside Sacramento, Eli begins to question what he does for a living–and whom he does it for.
With The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable comic tour de force. Filled with a remarkable cast of characters ;losers, cheaters, and ne'er-do-wells from all stripes of life and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent, lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that beautifully captures the humour, melancholy, and grit of the Old West and two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love.
The Sisters Brothers has been spectacularly reviewed, both in the UK and overseas;
“A powerfully realized work of narrative fiction... the dialogue is sharp as a whip... the novel works artfully within its formal boundaries to explore the nature of brotherhood, work, love, greed, loneliness and personal renewal.” -- Times Literary Supplement
"DeWitt never loses focus nor misses a beat in what is a masterclass on the twists of the mind and heart."-- The Scotsman
"Weirdly funny, startlingly violent and steeped in sadness... It’s all rendered irresistible by Eli Sisters, who narrates with a mixture of melancholy and thoughtfulness... After capturing the fireside camps and saloons in perfectly drawn vignettes, deWitt strips these two lethal brothers of more than they ever thought a man could lose. And then, damned if he doesn’t surprise us again with a twilight scene that’s just miraculously lovely." -- Washington Post
Author Biography
Patrick deWitt was born on Vancouver Island in 1975. He has also lived in California, Washington, and Oregon, where he currently lives with his wife and son. He is the author of two novels, Ablutions and The Sisters Brothers which was shortlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize.
