Lost Nation

A Novel

The powerful and tragic tale of a young man and woman in early nineteenth-century New England mirror the birth of a nation.

“In intensely charged prose very reminiscent of Faulkner’s,” Lost Nation delves beneath the bright, promising veneer of early-nineteenth-century New England to unveil a startling parable of individualism and nationhood (Kirkus Reviews). The novel opens with a man known as Blood, guiding an oxcart of rum toward the wild country of New Hampshire, an ungoverned territory called the Indian Stream—a land where the luckless or outlawed have made a fresh start. Blood is a man of contradictions, of learning and wisdom, but also a man with a secret past that has scorched his soul. He sets forth to establish himself as a trader, hauling with him Sally, a sixteen-year-old girl won over a game of cards. Their arrival in the Indian Stream triggers an escalating series of clashes that serves to sever the master/servant bond between them, and offers both a second chance with life. But as the conflicts within the community spill over and attract the attention of outside authorities, Blood becomes a target to those seeking easy blame for their troubles, forcing him to confront dreaded apparitions from his past, while Sally is offered a final escape.

“A rousing tale that will surely please the readers of his first, bestselling novel, In the Fall.” —Publishers Weekly

“Following on the success of his first novel, In the Fall, Lent has produced a second book with the same sort of tragic power and dignity.” —BookPage

“Jeffrey Lent has quietly created some of the finest novels of our new century.” —Ron Rash

“Jeffrey Lent builds characters and their world like a painter layering his canvas, telling his story but substantiating it with color and light.” —Tim Pears

“Sentence by sentence rural New England comes alive, and Lent’s language draws you in like a clear stream in summer.” —Tim Gautreaux