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The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All

by Josh Ritter

Greenlit By: Knox

September 7, 2022

Knox Says

This is a recounting of a life Big Fish style. Some of the chapters feel vaguely tall tale-ish. The format is charming. There's lumberjacks and murder and bootlegging, and avalanches, and quietly magical characters as well as a whimsical, monstrous villain. The loved it for the characters and the setting but especially loved the prose.

Synopsis

In the tiny timber town of Cordelia, Idaho, ninety-nine year old Weldon Applegate recounts his life in all its glory, filled with tall tales writ large with murder, mayhem, avalanches and bootlegging. It’s the story of dark pine forests brewing with ancient magic, and Weldon’s struggle as a boy to keep his father’s inherited timber claim, the Lost Lot, from the ravenous clutches of Linden Laughlin.

Ever since young Weldon stepped foot in the deep Cordelia woods as a child, he dreamed of joining the rowdy ranks of his ancestors in their epic axe-swinging adventures. Local legend says their family line boasts some of the greatest lumberjacks to ever roam the American West, but at the beginning of the twentieth century, the jacks are dying out, and it’s up to Weldon to defend his family legacy.

Braided with haunting saloon tunes and just the right dose of magic, The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All is a novel bursting with heart, humor and an utterly transporting adventure that is sure to sweep you away into the beauty of the tall snowy mountain timber.