Sweet Hereafter: A Novel [Paperback]

Rich in imagery and the detail of small-town life and haunting in its portrayal of ordinary men and women struggling to understand loss. Under Mr. Banks's restrained craftsmanship, what begins as the story of senseless tragedy is transformed into an aspiring testament to hope and human resilience.  — Atlanta Constitution

InThe Sweet Hereafter,Russell Banks tells a story that begins with a school bus accident. Using four different narrators, Banks creates a small-town morality play that addresses one of life's most agonizing questions: when the worst thing happens, who do you blame?

Here is a stunning novel of compelling moral suspense (Los Angeles Times Book Review) from one of America's greatest storytellers.

InThe Sweet Hereafter,Russell Banks tells a story that begins with a school bus accident. Using four different narrators, Banks creates a small-town morality play that addresses one of life's most agonizing questions: when the worst thing happens, who do you blame?

Banks poses many questions, and his canvas is far larger than any thumbnail sketch of its components can suggest. -San Francisco Chronicle

Without sentimentalizing them in the least, Banks has extended the themes explored in his previous novels . . . to show that wiser, possibly even better people can emerge from the ordeal: that some old American decencies still prevail, against all the odds. -Chicago Tribune

A novel of compelling moral suspense . . . [a] superb book . . . a remarkable book, a sardonic and compassionate account of a community and its people. -Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times Book Review

A finely observed portrait of small town life . . . It's as though he has cast a large stone into a quiet pond, then minutely charted the shape and size of the ripples sent out in successive waves . . . It is often gripping, consistentl#%