One Long River of Song

Brian Doyle

When Brian Doyle passed away at the age of sixty after a bout with brain cancer he left behind a cult-like following of devoted readers who regard his writing as one of the best-kept secrets of the twenty- first century. Doyle writes with a delightful sense of wonder about the sanctity of everyday things and about love and connection in all their forms: spiritual love brotherly love romantic love and even the love of a nine-foot sturgeon.

At a moment when the world can sometimes feel darker than ever Doyle's writing which constantly evokes the humor and even bliss that life affords is a balm. His essays manage to find again and again exquisite beauty in the quotidian whether it's the awe of a child the first time she hears a river or a husband's whiskers that a grieving widow misses seeing in her sink every morning. Through Doyle's eyes nothing is dull.

David James Duncan sums up Doyle's sensibilities best in his introduction to the collection: "Brian Doyle lived the pleasure of bearing daily witness to quiet glories hidden in people places and creatures of little or no size renown or commercial value and he brought inimitably playful or soaring or aching or heartfelt language to his tellings." A life's work One Long River of Song invites readers to experience joy and wonder in ordinary moments that become under Doyle's rapturous and exuberant gaze extraordinary.

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