The Poet of Tolstoy Park by Sonny Brewer

The Poet of Tolstoy Park by Sonny Brewer

"The more you transform your life from the material to the spiritual domain, the less you become afraid of death." Leo Tolstoy spoke these words, and they became Henry Stuart's raison d'etre. The Poet of Tolstoy Park is the unforgettable novel based on the true story of Henry Stuart's life, which was reclaimed from his doctor's belief that he would not live another year.

Henry responds to the news by slogging home barefoot in the rain. It's 1925. The place- Canyon County, Idaho. Henry is sixty-seven, a retired professor and a widower who has been told a warmer climate would make the end more tolerable. San Diego would be a good choice.

Instead, Henry chose Fairhope, Alabama, a town with utopian ideals and a haven for strong-minded individualists. Upton Sinclair, Sherwood Anderson, and Clarence Darrow were among its inhabitants. Henry bought his own ten acres of piney woods outside Fairhope. Before dying, underscored by the writings of his beloved Tolstoy, Henry could begin to "perfect the soul awarded him" and rest in the faith that he, and all people, would succeed, "even if it took eons." Human existence, Henry believed, continues in a perfect circle unmarred by flaws of personality, irrespective of blood and possessions and rank, and separate from organized religion. In Alabama, until his final breath, he would chase these high ideas.

But first, Henry had to answer up for leaving Idaho. Henry's dearest friend and intellectual sparring partner, Pastor Will Webb, and Henry's two adult sons, Thomas and Harvey, were baffled and angry that he would abandon them and move to the Deep South, living in a barn there while he built a round house of handmade concrete blocks. His new neighbors were perplexed by his eccentric behavior as well. On the coldest day of winter he was barefoot, a philosopher and poet with ideas and words to share with anyone who would listen. And, mysteriously, his "last few months" became years. He had gone looking for a place to learn lessons in dying, and, studiously advanced to claim a vigorous new life.

The Poet of Tolstoy Park is a moving and irresistible story, a guidebook of the mind and spirit that lays hold of the heart. Henry Stuart points the way through life's puzzles for all of us, becoming in this timeless tale a character of such dimension that he seems more alive now than ever.

Brewer, Sonny: - Sonny Brewer is the author of the novels The Poet of Tolstoy Park and three others. He is the editor of the five-volume Stories from the Blue Moon Cafe anthology series, and editor of Don't Quit Your Day Job anthology. He is the founder of the Fairhope Center for Writing Arts, and former bookseller at his Over the Transom Bookstore. In his early writing career he was a journalist and reporter and the editor of the Mobile, Alabama city-regional magazine, Mobile Bay Monthly. He wrote a children's book, Rembrandt the Rocker; a book about lawyer Clarence Darrow; and, a self-help book called A Yin for Change. He was editor-in-chief for MacAdam/Cage Publishing in San Francisco. Sonny lives in Fairhope, Alabama, with his dog Bobby.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780345476326
ISBN 10	0345476328
Title	The Poet of Tolstoy Park
Author	Sonny Brewer
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2006-03-28
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.