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Make My Bed In Hell
(1939)(The second book in the Warrensburg Trilogy series)
A novel by John Sanford
“The prose is fresh and energetic, the story-telling superb, and the writing comes out as raw and terrifying as an exposed nerve.” New York Times
Aaron Platt has spent every day of his life breaking his back to scrape a living from the rocky, played-out fields of the Adirondack farm he inherited from his sadistic father. One winter morning, he follows footprints in the snow to his barn and discovers a man freezing to death in a horse stall. What unfolds between the two men, past and present, is a brisk, gritty depiction of crime and punishment. But their harrowing story is more than that, exposing the shocking hypocrisy of the people who live in the nearby, bucolic town—a legacy of hatred that reaches back to the violent founding of the nation.
This literary masterpiece, back in print for the first time in over 60 years, includes a new Afterword by Jack Mearns, author of John Sanford: An Annotated Bibliography
"A first-rate story of violence and congealed hate." New Republic
"The story is electrifying." Saturday Review of Literature
"A brief, fast book, and those pages are terse. Sanford has injected the drama of spilled blood that made America." Los Angeles Times
"An unusual book with some brilliant pieces of writing, exceeding Celine and Faulkner in depravity and language." Kirkus Reviews
"Encompassing a slice of American history, this is an exposition on how pain festers and corrupts and how it manifests when released. A gritty social commentary and an insightful psychological portrait of damaged individuals. At times Hard to take, deeply poignant, savage and realistic. How is Sanford not better known? There’s an energy and drive to his writing, much copied and often watered down." Crimetime UK
"First published in 1939, this hardboiled novel from Sanford (1904–2003) explores the long-lasting effects of childhood trauma and the inescapability of generational rural poverty. The shifts among three different narrative voices can be confusing, but striking imagery more than compensates." Publishers Weekly
Genre: Mystery
Aaron Platt has spent every day of his life breaking his back to scrape a living from the rocky, played-out fields of the Adirondack farm he inherited from his sadistic father. One winter morning, he follows footprints in the snow to his barn and discovers a man freezing to death in a horse stall. What unfolds between the two men, past and present, is a brisk, gritty depiction of crime and punishment. But their harrowing story is more than that, exposing the shocking hypocrisy of the people who live in the nearby, bucolic town—a legacy of hatred that reaches back to the violent founding of the nation.
This literary masterpiece, back in print for the first time in over 60 years, includes a new Afterword by Jack Mearns, author of John Sanford: An Annotated Bibliography
"A first-rate story of violence and congealed hate." New Republic
"The story is electrifying." Saturday Review of Literature
"A brief, fast book, and those pages are terse. Sanford has injected the drama of spilled blood that made America." Los Angeles Times
"An unusual book with some brilliant pieces of writing, exceeding Celine and Faulkner in depravity and language." Kirkus Reviews
"Encompassing a slice of American history, this is an exposition on how pain festers and corrupts and how it manifests when released. A gritty social commentary and an insightful psychological portrait of damaged individuals. At times Hard to take, deeply poignant, savage and realistic. How is Sanford not better known? There’s an energy and drive to his writing, much copied and often watered down." Crimetime UK
"First published in 1939, this hardboiled novel from Sanford (1904–2003) explores the long-lasting effects of childhood trauma and the inescapability of generational rural poverty. The shifts among three different narrative voices can be confusing, but striking imagery more than compensates." Publishers Weekly
Genre: Mystery
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