Daniel Ford has 30 days to live. Accused of the horrific murder of his best friend Nathan 12 years before, he has exhausted all appeals and now faces the long walk to the electric chair. All he can do is make peace with his God. Father John Rousseau is the man to whom the last month of Daniel's life has been entrusted. All the two men have left to do is rake over the last ashes of Ford's existence. So he begins to tell his story. Beginning with his first meeting with Nathan, aged 6, on the shores of a lake in 1952, through first loves, Vietnam, the death of Kennedy, and finally their flight from the draft which ended in Nathan's brutal murder.
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“Brooding narrative engages interest…” -- Kirkus Reviews
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Publisher
Accused and convicted of the murder of his closest friend, Nathan Verney, Daniel Ford has exhausted all appeals and, at last, faces the electric chair. It’s 1982, and Daniel is thirty–six years old. One person will walk that final month with him. Father John Rousseau has been entrusted by the U.S. government with Ford’s soul, and together they will rake over the ashes of his past. But this is no simple story. It is one that not only encompasses the loves, betrayals, and friendships of one man, but also the tumultuous events of a whole society on the verge of war with itself. It was the America that saw the Vietnam War and Watergate, the deaths of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King. It also saw the brutal murder of Nathan Verney and the guilt of the one man who loved him…
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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More About the Author
Roger Jon Ellory was born in Birmingham, England, June 20th 1965 at Sorento Hospital. The hospital has now been demolished. There is no direct evidence that the two events were linked.
His father having already left before Roger was born, he was then orphaned at the age of seven. His mother, Carole - an actress and dancer - died as a result of a pneumonia epidemic that claimed more than a dozen victims in the early 1970s. In 1973 Roger was swiftly despatched to a boarding school and stayed there until he was sixteen. Upon leaving school he returned to Birmingham to live with his maternal grandmother. His grandfather had already drowned off the Gower Peninsula in the south of Wales in 1957. In April of 1982 Roger's grandmother died following a number of heart attacks.
At seventeen years of age he was arrested for poaching. He was charged,tried, and sentenced to a jail term which he served without causing too much trouble. Upon his release he vanished quietly into relative obscurity to pursue interests in graphic design, photography and music. As a guitar player in a band called 'The Manta Rays' he was partly responsible for their reputation as the loudest band south of Manchester and north of London. Following the untimely death of their drummer, Roger quit the music scene and devoted himself to studying obscure philosophies and reading. Through the complete works of Conan Doyle, Michael Moorcock, JRR Tolkien, numerous books by Stephen King and many others, his interest in fiction steadily grew, not only from the viewpoint of a reader, but a burgeoning interest as a writer.
Roger began his first novel on November 4th, 1987 and did not stop, except for three days when he was going through a divorce from his first wife, until July of 1993. During this time he completed twenty-two novels, most of them in longhand, and accumulated several hundred polite and complimentary rejection letters from many different and varied publishers. The standard response from the UK publishing trade was that they could not consider the possibility of publishing books based in the United States written by an Englishman. He was advised to send his work to American publishers, which he duly did, and received from them equally polite and complimentary rejection letters that said it was not possible for American publishers to publish books set in the US written by an Englishman. Roger stopped writing out of sheer frustration and did not start again until August 2001. Between August 2001 and January 2002 he wrote three books, the second of which was called Candlemoth. This was purchased by Orion UK and published in 2003. How and why it was published is another story entirely, which if you ever go to one of Roger's events he will tell you! Candlemoth was translated into German, Dutch and Italian. The book also secured a nomination on the shortlist for the Crime Writers' Association Steel Dagger for Best Thriller 2003.
Roger's second book, Ghostheart, was released in 2004 in the UK, and his third book, A Quiet Vendetta, was released in August 2005. In 2006 he published City of Lies, and once again secured a nomination for the CWA Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of that year. City of Lies was also translated into Bulgarian and made available in Large Print. His fifth book - A Quiet Belief In Angels - was published in August 2007, and in the latter part of the year it was selected for the phenomenally successful British TV equivalent of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, the Richard and Judy Book Club. The book was purchased for translation into more than twenty languages including French, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian, Norwegian and Lithuanian, released on both abridged and unabridged audio, and made available in Large Print. As of mid-2008, there were more than 300,000 copies of the book in circulation in the UK alone. It was shortlisted for the Barry Award for Best British Crime Fiction Novel of 2008, the 813 Trophy, the Quebec Booksellers' Prize, the Europeen Du Point Award, and was the winner of the Inaugural Prix Roman Noir Nouvel Observateur in France. Roger has also been contracted to write the screenplay by Oscar-winning writer and director of 'Le Vie En Rose', Olivier Dahan.
In September of 2009 A Quiet Belief In Angels will be released by Overlook Press in the United States.
Currently there are a further three books due for release in the UK - the first in the fall of 2009 ('The Anniversary Man'), the second in 2010, and Roger is currently working on the third which will be released in 2011.
On numerous occasions people have tried to identify Roger's work with a particular genre - crime, thriller, historical fiction - but this categorisation has been a relatively fruitless endeavour. Roger's ethos is merely to work towards producing a good story, something that encapsulates elements of humanity and life without necessarily slotting into a predetermined pigeonhole. He attempts to produce an average of forty thousand words a month, and aims to get a first draft completed within three to four months. His wife thinks he is a workaholic, his son considers him slightly left-of-centre, but they put up with him regardless. His son has long since been aware of the fact that 'dad' buys stuff, and thus his idiosyncrasies should be tolerated.
Roger doesn't read anywhere enough books, doesn't watch enough movies, and keeps trying to remedy these omissions. To date he has routinely failed.
Recently he read a book called 'How Not To Write A Novel' by David Armstrong. His favourite quote from this book went along the lines of 'The harder you work the luckier you get'. He agrees with this principle, and thus has no intention of retiring from anything, ever.
He's just going to keep on writing, and he hopes people keep on reading, and now there are people showing up to readings and signings that he has never met before, he feels that his purpose as a writer is at last being accomplished.
His father having already left before Roger was born, he was then orphaned at the age of seven. His mother, Carole - an actress and dancer - died as a result of a pneumonia epidemic that claimed more than a dozen victims in the early 1970s. In 1973 Roger was swiftly despatched to a boarding school and stayed there until he was sixteen. Upon leaving school he returned to Birmingham to live with his maternal grandmother. His grandfather had already drowned off the Gower Peninsula in the south of Wales in 1957. In April of 1982 Roger's grandmother died following a number of heart attacks.
At seventeen years of age he was arrested for poaching. He was charged,tried, and sentenced to a jail term which he served without causing too much trouble. Upon his release he vanished quietly into relative obscurity to pursue interests in graphic design, photography and music. As a guitar player in a band called 'The Manta Rays' he was partly responsible for their reputation as the loudest band south of Manchester and north of London. Following the untimely death of their drummer, Roger quit the music scene and devoted himself to studying obscure philosophies and reading. Through the complete works of Conan Doyle, Michael Moorcock, JRR Tolkien, numerous books by Stephen King and many others, his interest in fiction steadily grew, not only from the viewpoint of a reader, but a burgeoning interest as a writer.
Roger began his first novel on November 4th, 1987 and did not stop, except for three days when he was going through a divorce from his first wife, until July of 1993. During this time he completed twenty-two novels, most of them in longhand, and accumulated several hundred polite and complimentary rejection letters from many different and varied publishers. The standard response from the UK publishing trade was that they could not consider the possibility of publishing books based in the United States written by an Englishman. He was advised to send his work to American publishers, which he duly did, and received from them equally polite and complimentary rejection letters that said it was not possible for American publishers to publish books set in the US written by an Englishman. Roger stopped writing out of sheer frustration and did not start again until August 2001. Between August 2001 and January 2002 he wrote three books, the second of which was called Candlemoth. This was purchased by Orion UK and published in 2003. How and why it was published is another story entirely, which if you ever go to one of Roger's events he will tell you! Candlemoth was translated into German, Dutch and Italian. The book also secured a nomination on the shortlist for the Crime Writers' Association Steel Dagger for Best Thriller 2003.
Roger's second book, Ghostheart, was released in 2004 in the UK, and his third book, A Quiet Vendetta, was released in August 2005. In 2006 he published City of Lies, and once again secured a nomination for the CWA Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of that year. City of Lies was also translated into Bulgarian and made available in Large Print. His fifth book - A Quiet Belief In Angels - was published in August 2007, and in the latter part of the year it was selected for the phenomenally successful British TV equivalent of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, the Richard and Judy Book Club. The book was purchased for translation into more than twenty languages including French, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian, Norwegian and Lithuanian, released on both abridged and unabridged audio, and made available in Large Print. As of mid-2008, there were more than 300,000 copies of the book in circulation in the UK alone. It was shortlisted for the Barry Award for Best British Crime Fiction Novel of 2008, the 813 Trophy, the Quebec Booksellers' Prize, the Europeen Du Point Award, and was the winner of the Inaugural Prix Roman Noir Nouvel Observateur in France. Roger has also been contracted to write the screenplay by Oscar-winning writer and director of 'Le Vie En Rose', Olivier Dahan.
In September of 2009 A Quiet Belief In Angels will be released by Overlook Press in the United States.
Currently there are a further three books due for release in the UK - the first in the fall of 2009 ('The Anniversary Man'), the second in 2010, and Roger is currently working on the third which will be released in 2011.
On numerous occasions people have tried to identify Roger's work with a particular genre - crime, thriller, historical fiction - but this categorisation has been a relatively fruitless endeavour. Roger's ethos is merely to work towards producing a good story, something that encapsulates elements of humanity and life without necessarily slotting into a predetermined pigeonhole. He attempts to produce an average of forty thousand words a month, and aims to get a first draft completed within three to four months. His wife thinks he is a workaholic, his son considers him slightly left-of-centre, but they put up with him regardless. His son has long since been aware of the fact that 'dad' buys stuff, and thus his idiosyncrasies should be tolerated.
Roger doesn't read anywhere enough books, doesn't watch enough movies, and keeps trying to remedy these omissions. To date he has routinely failed.
Recently he read a book called 'How Not To Write A Novel' by David Armstrong. His favourite quote from this book went along the lines of 'The harder you work the luckier you get'. He agrees with this principle, and thus has no intention of retiring from anything, ever.
He's just going to keep on writing, and he hopes people keep on reading, and now there are people showing up to readings and signings that he has never met before, he feels that his purpose as a writer is at last being accomplished.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a great first book,
By JT "Jeff Turner" (Egham, Surrey United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Candlemoth (Paperback)
I recently read "A Quiet Belief In Angels" and became interested in RJ Ellory's style of writing. That prompted me to purchase Candlemoth and I'm glad that I bought this book. As Ellory's first published book, the story is tight, holds together well and, with the subject being someone on Death Row, raises many interesting questions regarding the treatment of prisoners awaiting execution.
His insights into the thought processes and personality traits of the main character, Daniel, really get your emotions rising and falling as Daniel remembers events leading up to his incarceration and then as Daniel faces his final few days. This is more of a why-did-it than a who-done-it but your emotions get tugged in all directions along the way. RJ Ellory also manages to get you thinking seriously about what motivates people and why people make certain life choices. A great first book and a great read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific!,
By Big Bertha (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Candlemoth (Paperback)
'Four times I've been betrayed - twice by women, once by a better friend than any man might wish for, and lastly by a nation..'
36 year old Daniel Ford, a convicted murderer is on death row for the murder of his best friend Nathan. With thirty six days before he faces the electric chair piece by piece he relates his lifestory to the Prison Chaplin Father Rousseau. His story starts in rural North Carolina when in 1952, at six years old he meets Nathan and the two boys (one born white the other black) become best friends, their friendship lasting until Nathan's brutal murder 20 years later. I really loved this. It was enthralling, with well drawn characters and covered the history of the period, the racism, political corruption and deaths of Martin Luther King and Kennedy well in an informative way without being boring.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dead Man Talking,
By OEJ Aboard (England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Candlemoth (Paperback)
Roger Jon Ellory made his big breakthrough in 2007 with A Quiet Belief in Angels which has gone on to become one of the best-selling books in the nation. There's a lot more to this Brummie lad than just that one novel though, and most people going through his back-catalogue as a response to his blockbuster success are finding that his outstanding writing skills are evident here in his debut, which again spans most of the lifetime of a single man in the south-eastern USA through the 1950s, 1960s and beyond. It is altogether different in its style, however, and in the emotions it engenders in its readers.
Most stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. This one is a curiosity because in effect the reader knows the end before opening the first page; 36-year-old Daniel Ford is on death row in a South Carolina prison, having been tried and found guilty of the murder of his best friend some twelve years earlier. For most of the tale, then, the key questions are how, where, and above all why did he kill Nathan Verney? A singular oddity for me was that the story is told from a first-person perspective, making me constantly wonder how a dead man could be recounting the events of his life between 1952 - when at 6 years old he met Nathan - and 1982, with just a few hours to go before going to the electric chair. It turns out that although the end appears to be almost a foregone conclusion, the telling of that end is vivid, powerful and consummately makes up for the relatively genteel nature of most that had gone before, prior to Daniel's arrest around Christmas of 1969. Ellory succeeds in making you feel what it must be like to be weeks, days and finally just hours away from death. While some of the political backdrops are too long drawn out in detail, there is no question that politics and racial prejudice lie right at the heart of the tale. Most relevant of all is the Vietnam conflict, and how Daniel and Nathan face up to the probability of being drafted into a war they both have no desire to be involved in. The other key issue is that Nathan is black, and in a part of the country with strong associations with the Ku Klux Klan, he faces harmful consequences when he simply goes out to a bar with his white friend, and takes even higher risks by having a white girlfriend - especially one with a father reputed to be a Klan king-pin. Yet another political topic central to all that goes on is the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy, and when all is said and done at the conclusion, it becomes apparent that all of the main characters, including Daniel's girlfriends, and most if not all of the political narrative are absolutely relevant to the story as a whole, even if some of the people and background events seem to have no bearing at the time of their mention. The prose will be regarded as merely average by anyone who has read Ellory's most recent work, but the imagery of both the tranquillity of Greenleaf South Carolina, and the intimidating inmates and warders on death row make for gripping reading. There are, throughout this tale, emotive portrayals of love, lust, envy, betrayal, guilt, fear, joy, anger and utter hopelessness. For those familiar with Ellory's other novels this one does take a while before it really takes hold, and patience might be needed at times, but the pay-off is absolute and uncompromising, with an ending that few others can hope to match. Ultimately an intense, moving and memorable story.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Four times I've been betrayed - twice by women, once by a better friend than any man might wish for, and lastly by a nation. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
baked ham sandwich, radio store, ankle shackles, cell search Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Father John, Nathan Verney, Eve Chantry, Linny Goldbourne, Caroline Lanafeuille, Duty Second, North Carolina, Marty Hooper, Clarence Timmons, Lake Marion, Mister Ford, Martin Luther King, Nine Mile Road, Reverend Verney, Daniel Ford, Frank Tilley, Larry James, Sheryl Rose Bogazzi, Robert Schembri, Death Row, Linda Goldbourne, Mister West, Myrtle Beach, Sergeant Mike, Death Watch New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Four times I've been betrayed - twice by women, once by a better friend than any man might wish for, and lastly by a nation. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
baked ham sandwich, radio store, ankle shackles, cell search Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Father John, Nathan Verney, Eve Chantry, Linny Goldbourne, Caroline Lanafeuille, Duty Second, North Carolina, Marty Hooper, Clarence Timmons, Lake Marion, Mister Ford, Martin Luther King, Nine Mile Road, Reverend Verney, Daniel Ford, Frank Tilley, Larry James, Sheryl Rose Bogazzi, Robert Schembri, Death Row, Linda Goldbourne, Mister West, Myrtle Beach, Sergeant Mike, Death Watch New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 9
books:
See all 9 books this book cites
- on page 62, and page 63
- Martin Luther: A Penguin Life (Penguin Lives Biographies) by Martin E. Marty on page 126
- Martin Luther: The Courage to Seek (Heroes of the Faith) by Edwin Booth on page 127
- Song of Myself (Dover Thrift Editions) by Walt Whitman on page 68
- Death Row by Bruce Jackson on page 379
See all 9 books this book cites
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