The Four Corners of the Sky

A Novel

 
3.50 based on 47 reviews.

Media:

Hardcover Book, 560 pages

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Product Description

"There's humor and action aplenty, but Four Corners is also a warm-hearted look at how we love and forgive. Five hundred and forty-four pages never seemed so short."
People Magazine 4-Star Review

In small towns between the North Carolina Piedmont and the coast the best scenery is often in the sky. On flat sweeps of red clay and scrub pine the days move monotonously, safely, but above, in the blink of an eye, dangerous clouds can boil out of all four corners of the sky…The flat slow land starts to shiver and anything can happen. In such a storm, on Annie Peregrine's seventh birthday, her father gave her the airplane and minutes later drove out of her life.

Twenty years is a long time to be without a father, and, for Navy pilot Annie Peregrine-Goode, the sky has become a home the earth has never been. So when her father calls out of the blue to ask for a dying wish—one both absurd and mysterious—no is the easiest of answers. Until she hears that the reward is the one thing she always wanted …

Thus begins an enchanting novel that bursts with energy from the first pages, and sweeps you off on a journey of unforgettable characters, hilarious encounters, and haunting secrets.

The Four Corners of the Sky is master storyteller Michael Malone's new novel of love, secrets, and the mysterious bonds of families. Malone brings characters to life as only he can, exploring the questions that defy easy answers:

Is love a choice or a calling?
Why do the ties of family bind so tightly?
And is forgiveness a gift to others…or a gift we give ourselves?

PRAISE FOR THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE SKY:

"Devoted Michael Malone fans have been waiting more than 20 years for another Handling Sin, perhaps the greatest road novel since Tom Jones. The wait is over… The cast of characters is as large as it is rich. Malone is an absolute master of Dickensian character building…Don't miss it."
Bill Ott, editor-in-chief, Booklist

"Fried Green Tomatoes with copious draughts of Shakespeare… Malone (Theater Studies and English/Duke Univ.; The Last Noel, 2002, etc.) knows that the small-town South is a subject all unto itself, and no matter how eccentric the characters, they're wholly believable in that context… Secrets and intrigues among the honeysuckle: a sun-washed yarn of the New South, affectionately told."
Kirkus starrred review

"A father-daughter story that will have young adult readers (and you) laughing and crying and rooting for Annie, now 26 years old and still stinging from her father's abandonment of the family when she was just seven. Malone's titles have broad adult appeal, and Four Corners has the potential for being a gateway novel for maturing fiction readers."
School Library Journal

"This book is so complex and so beautifully done, it sort of outclasses Dickens (and I may have just committed literary heresy here). The Four Corners of the Sky is the best thing I have read in years and you can imagine how much I read. Truly, I couldn't put it down. I loved it."
Kathy Ashton, The King's English Bookshop

PRAISE FOR MICHAEL MALONE:

"Malone... delights the reader with his witty eye for the kind of detail that proclaims with humor and confidence, 'This is true!'"
Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Malone shows a knack for colorful characters, snappy dialogue and tragicomic human foibles."
Salt Lake Tribune

"Brilliant and entertaining... Wonderfully shrewd... Mr. Malone's characters have dimension and scope."
New York Times Book Review

"Michael Malone has a true narrative gift, the true eye for the character in action, and

Product Details

  • Subtitle: A Novel
  • Media: Hardcover Book, 560 pages
  • Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (May 01, 2009)
  • Edition: First Edition
  • ISBN-10: 1570717443
  • ISBN-13: 9781570717444
  • Dimensions: 6.2 x 9.2 x 1.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.9 lbs
  • Note: Some of this information came from Amazon.com

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Customer Reviews

  • Rating It Has It All  May 10, 2009 (10 of 10 found this helpful)

    Four Corners of the Sky has an entertaining story, wonderful characters, and beautiful writing. It's the kind of book you can keep on your night stand long after you've finished it, to pick up and re-read chapters just to remember how much you enjoyed the plot, the people, and the places Michael Malone takes you. It's a keeper!

  • Rating Another "starred review" book from a great writer  May 4, 2009 (7 of 7 found this helpful)

    Reading Michael Malone is like listening to Mozart -- his writing dances and sparkles, as playfulness blends harmoniously with a serious insights into the human heart and mind. However, you do not need me to summarize the plot or state my high opinion of this author and book. Rather, I simply will point out that the most reliable mark of a really great read is a starred review in the professional book journals. The Four Corners of the Sky already has earned that mark of distinction in Kirkus Reviews and Booklist.

  • Rating Malone does it again!  May 28, 2009 (6 of 6 found this helpful)

    Another Malone at last! I have read his Handling Sin at least six times: a Don Quixote of the American South. And now another jewel to savor. No one is better at designing characters with all the flaws and perfections in each of us, with grace wrapped around them all. Malone masters the art of storytelling in a way that pulls me in and through the book. Four Corners combines good writing and a priceless picture of the human experience. Once you finish this book, be sure to pick up Handling Sin and maybe The Last Noel. You will be glad you did!

  • Rating Great read for summer vaca!  Jun 3, 2009 (4 of 4 found this helpful)

    I absolutely LOVED Handling Sin and could not wait to get my hands on Malone's new novel. I read this over the long holiday weekend - boy was it an adventure! Malone is the best at character development - I find myself thinking about Annie and Sam and Jack and the others often. A really feel-good book at time when we could all use a little love, a sense of home, and family.

  • Rating What's in the King's tail, the Queen's box, and Sam's heart?  May 27, 2009 (4 of 4 found this helpful)

    So what if your mother isn't Claudette Colbert, your father isn't a high-flying (literally) con-man, and your aunt isn't named Sam - these characters -- Annie, Jack and Sam - will feel like the family you always wanted by the time you've finished reading Michael Malone's newest adventure-mystery novel. The Four Corners of the Sky is vintage Malone -- filled with laugh-out-loud humour (including a collection of puns to die - or kill - for), pull-you-in mystery plots, a heroine who flies for the U.S. Naval Air Force, the most lovable Cubano rapscallion ever to cherish a thorn from Christ's crown, a gold statue with a past, present and future worthy of Dashiell Hammett's Maltese Falcon and a heaping side-order of insider-information about planes and true-story international intrigue! Four Corners of the Sky is a big page-turner of a book. Give it a day and a half on a rainy day - two days in the sun if you like to tan on both sides! You're gonna love it!

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