{"product_id":"9780615999838","title":"One Hundred Miles from Manhattan","description":"\u003cb\u003eVoted by IndieReader as one of the Best Indie Books of 2014.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOne Hundred Miles from Manhattan\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e is a novel about an upscale rural community (Wellington, NY), where the hills and the seemingly quaint village conceal lives of love, lust, adultery, tragedy and small wars.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUnlike other novels in the pastoral tradition, which tell the story of a place and a time through the eyes of a single character, this modern novel uses 10 narrators, a different one per chapter, to shed light on this exclusive community.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Wellington, a trophy wife undergoes a shocking transformation. A medical doctor attracts his own destruction. A local bachelor steals a dog and has an epiphany. A town Casanova goes on a personal odyssey to make amends. And a Manhattan book editor reveals what it's like to be a first-time visitor to this rarefied world of wealth, horses and equestriennes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo this exquisitely written novel, Chris Orcutt brings his meticulous craft and his talent for writing in multifarious voices and styles, all while exposing a world of massive estates, rolling green hills, hilltoppers, townies, celebrities, hopes, dreams, sex, and the fleeting promises of love...\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Q\u0026amp;A with Chris Orcutt:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat do you mean by \"modern novel\"?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere's why I call \u003ci\u003eOne Hundred Miles from Manhattan\u003c\/i\u003e a \"modern novel\": 1) the novel is told by 10 different narrators, one per chapter; and 2) the timeline is segmented.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor example, in the movie \u003ci\u003ePulp Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e, the scenes are presented out of order. That's what I do here. It's the story of one year in Wellington, but the events are shown out of order. The book starts in the late spring\/early summer, then goes to the early spring, then mid-summer, etc. It is \u003ci\u003enot\u003c\/i\u003e in chronological order.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI believe this enhances the reader's experience. Also, many characters overlap between the chapters, and so do the events.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhy 10 different narrators or points of view?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs much as I admire the single POV novel, in today's ultramodern society, where everyone is a star (or considers himself one; social media tools aid in this delusion), everyone's story or POV contributes to the larger story. Nowadays, it doesn't make sense that any one person would be capable of telling the complete story of a town.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow is Wellington unique?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eActually, I don't think Wellington is unique (as in \"being the only one of its kind\") as much as it's iconic or symbolic.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere are lots of wealthy communities with big estates, rolling green hills, exclusive rod and gun clubs, pheasant farms, Range Rovers, a lively but mostly unnoticed equestrian scene, and a low simmer of conflict between \"hilltoppers\" and \"townies.\" Wellington is meant to be an amalgamation of several of those places, and it's also meant to be more of an idea than an actual place. Mythical, if you will.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eImagine if the world of Mr. Darcy's Derbyshire could be transplanted to modern-day Upstate New York. That's Wellington.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat was your inspiration for the novel?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI first got this idea of writing a novel about a wealthy community over 20 years ago, when I was a reporter in a small town similar to Wellington. But at the time I could only envision the story being told from the POV of the local reporter. I'm so glad that I waited to write this book, because I think that the use of 10 narrators gives the reader a richer, broader experience of the town, and because back when I was a reporter, my writing skills weren't even close to what they are now.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI was also deeply inspired by my favorite classic authors of pastoral fiction including Chekhov, Tolstoy, Hardy and Austen.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Have Pen, Will Travel","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47013563629808,"sku":"9780615999838","price":12.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780615999838_p0.jpg?v=1763601841","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780615999838","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}