Shortlisted for the Historical Writers' Association Gold Crown

A gritty and lyrical American epic about a young woman who disguises herself as a boy and heads West.

In the spring of 1885, seventeen-year-old Jessilyn Harney finds herself orphaned and alone on her family's homestead. Desperate to fend off starvation and predatory neighbours, she cuts her hair, binds her chest, saddles her beloved mare, and sets off across the mountains to find her gun-slinging fugitive brother Noah and bring him home.

A talented sharpshooter herself, Jess's quest lands her in the employ of the territory's violent, capricious governor, whose militia is also hunting Noah - dead or alive. Wrestling with her brother's outlaw identity, and haunted by questions of her own, Jess must outmanoeuvre those who underestimate her, ultimately rising to become a hero in her own right.

Told in Jess's wholly original and unforgettable voice, the story brims with page-turning Western action, but its approach is modern and nuanced, touching on powerful issues from gender and sexuality to family and identity.

In the sweeping storytelling tradition of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove and Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, Whiskey When We're Dry transcends the straight-and-narrow Western to land among the classics.

About the Author
John Larison spent much of his childhood in remote regions of Australia, the Caribbean, Canada, the South Pacific, Alaska, and the American West before graduating from high school in Ithaca, New York. He studied philosophy and literature at the University of Oregon, and became a renowned fly-fishing guide ahead of earning an MFA from Oregon State University, where he stayed to teach while writing Whiskey When We're Dry. He lives with his family in rural Oregon.

Reviews
A powerful, impressive novel with a visceral sense of time and place -- Antonia Senior * The Times *
Larison uses the traditional Western form to explore very contemporary ideas about gender and identity -- Nick Rennison * BBC History Magazine *
Larison imbues the romance and wide-open spaces of the classic western with modern gender and racial awareness, giving space to those left out of the classic Old West mythos, but the main draw is Jesse's narrative voice, all folksy eloquence peppered with grit and determination -- Alistair Mabbott * Herald Scotland *
The punch and intensity of the writing and the voice of Jess are rather remarkable... So, too, is the depiction of her inner life, which lifts the novel high above the run of the mill -- Elizabeth Buchan * Daily Mail *
If you're a fan of Patrick DeWitt's The Sisters Brothers or Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, there's plenty in Whiskey When We're Dry for you to indulge in and there's no doubt that this novel will be talked about in the same breath as these greats in years to come -- Colin James * Storgy Magazine *



Book Information
ISBN 9780857303189
Author John Larison
Format Paperback
Page Count 432
Imprint No Exit Press
Publisher Bedford Square Publishers