Barefoot to Avalon named an August 2015 IndieNext Pick by the American Booksellers Association

Jun 8, 2015

Barefoot to Avalon: A Brother’s Story, by David Payne
(Grove Press, 9780802123541, $26)
“This memoir is the most courageous book I have ever read. The author takes readers with him as he endeavors to make sense of his relationships with his parents and siblings, mental illness, personal shortcomings, and the journey to becoming a writer. The book leaves readers amazed at how much pain the heart can hold and still emerge peaceful, whole, and full of hope.”  —Sharon Wheeler, Purple Crow Books, Hillsborough, NC

See more at:

http://www.bookweb.org/news/august-2015-indie-next-list-preview

Publishers Weekly Interview

Jun 8, 2015

David Payne: An Ode to His Brother

Acclaimed novelist David Payne needed many years to prepare him to write Barefoot to Avalon (Grove/Atlantic, Aug.), a memoir about the death of his beloved younger brother, George A., in an accident that Payne witnessed, was helpless to prevent, and occurred at the end of a weeklong visit between the two men that seemed to bring about the healing of a long and painful estrangement…

Continue reading:

http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/66833-bea-2015-david-payne-an-ode-to-his-brother.html

 

Publishers Weekly

May 18, 2015

There’s a novelistic intensity to the story, with Payne dwelling on vivid recollected scenes, recreating their atmospherics and teasing out every buried emotional tremor and element of foreshadowing, but his prose also has the rawness of a confessional… Writing with a mixture of clear-eyed realism and lyrical elegy, Payne shows how a family’s pain, resentment, and loss get transmuted into love.

— Publishers Weekly