Cloudmaker - by Malcolm Brooks (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

From the nationally bestselling author of Painted Horses, Malcolm Brooks returns with a soaring, spirited novel set during the summer of Amelia Earhart's final flight--a tale of American ingenuity and optimism set against the backdrop of a deepening Great Depression.

The summer of 1937 will be a turning point for fourteen year old Houston "Huck" Finn. When he and a friend find a dead body in a local creek, a rare Lindbergh flight watch on its wrist, it seems like a sign. Huck is building his own airplane, a fact he has concealed from his mother. That summer also marks the arrival of his cousin Annelise, sent to live with the family under mysterious circumstances. As it turns out, she has had flying lessons--another sign. As Huck's airplane takes shape, so does his burgeoning understanding of the world, including the battle over worldliness vs. godliness that has split Annelise from her family, and, in a quieter way, divides Huck's family too. And meanwhile, there's the matter of the watch, which it turns out the dead man's cohort of bank robbers would very much like back.

In Brooks' trademark "lush, breathtaking prose" (San Francisco Chronicle on Painted Horses) and with a winking nod to the Sam Clemens who inspired its hero's nickname, Cloudmaker is a boisterous, heartfelt novel that brings to life the idealism, inventiveness, traditionalism, and deep contradictions of the American spirit.

Review Quotes

Praise for Cloudmaker

"A sweeping yet personal coming-of-age story . . . Evocative . . . in pitch-perfect dialect that will immerse readers firmly in Brooks's beloved American West."--Shelf Awareness

"With a nod to Ivan Doig's straightforward folksy style, this impressive second novel after Painted Horses tells an earnest, heartfelt family story with laugh-out-loud humor, deep-seated family conflicts, and distressing coming-of-age crises. Enthusiastically recommended."--Library Review (starred review)

"Tender friendships and passionate pursuits combine in Cloudmaker--a rich, evocative, soaring novel rooted in particulars and populated with characters so nuanced and real you can't help but admire and miss them long after you've turned the last page."--Erin Lindsay McCabe, author of USA Today bestseller I Shall Be Near To You

"Epic in scope, beautifully crafted in its prose, and always--always--adoring of its cast of unforgettable characters, Cloudmaker is a stunner of a novel. A book that absolutely soars."--Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Little Faith

Praise for Painted Horses

"Perhaps what really sets Brooks apart as a writer is his lush, breathtaking prose that expertly captures the raw essence of an American West known for its wide-open spaces and unbridled spirit."--Alexis Burling, San Francisco Chronicle

"Evocative . . . Brooks' prose rings true and borders on poetic when he tackles the biggest things in his novel: themes of love, what one is willing to fight for, what to give up for something held more dear and, in the end, what it takes to recover from what has been lost."--John B. Saul, Seattle Times

"An undisputed ode to the American West."--USA Today (online)

"Brooks' prose is lovely and the plot fast-paced, hurtling across the Montana landscape toward a cinematic ending twist."--William J. Cobb, Dallas Morning News

"A terrific novel right in the vein of Jeffrey Lent's In The Fall and Leif Enger's Peace Like a River . . . What Malcolm Brooks unfolds is a love story, and a story of the creation of America as we know it."--Miwa Messer, Barnes & Noble Review

About the Author

Malcolm Brooks was raised in the rural foothills of the California Sierras. A carpenter by trade, he has lived in Montana for most of two decades. His writing has appeared in Gray's Sporting Journal, Outside, Sports Afield, and Montana Quarterly, among others.