Ostrich

"Michael Thomas’s novel reminds me of the work of William Saroyan. It is warm, upbeat, and entertaining. Mr. Thomas’s characters are deliciously eccentric, and his story is remarkably inventive. And above all, his theme—that love triumphs over all manner of character defects—is heartening and even moving. This is a rewarding read." —Richard S. Wheeler, author of Aftershocks and SunMountain

"D. H. Lawrence found complex sparks in the mystical New Mexico landscape, and so has Michael Thomas in his spare, evocative, quietly etched Nevada. Thomas has an ear for chance, and an eye for those rare moments where a connection otherwise lost to the annals of memory breaks away to be duly memorialized in what is a living treasure of contemporary prose. Lurking beneath it, all around it, are the profound ironies and contradictions of human profit at the tragic expense of animal lives. Thomas’s characters mature in those trenches, and live to see alternatives—not by any specific change of philosophy, but through the sheer drama and comedy which is contemporary life." —Michael Tobias, author of Rage & Reason, Jan & Catharina, and Voice of the Planet

“Meet the Eckleberrys, one of the most endearing families to appear in fiction in years. . . . Nothing earthshaking happens . . . in the novel; a family gathers, and its idiosyncratic members simply share their individual interpretations of love. This is a charming tale, told with warmth and humor by a master storyteller.” —George Needham, Booklist