In what many perceive as a coldly relentless digital age, Pulitzer-prize winning author Richard Russo has teamed up with his daughter, artist Kate Russo, to present this tribute to the printed book. This handsome and inventive format—four individually bound volumes gathered in a slipcase—combines the previously unpublished novella “Intervention” with three shorter works, two of which have not been published in book form.
The four tales in Interventions crackle with Russo’s perceptive wit and unwavering compassion for the human condition. In the title novella, self-obsessed realtor Ray must confront his own mortality and doesn’t seem especially interested in winning the battle. A surprising revelation about his father and uncle, however, and his realization of an unlikely friendship lead him to believe he just might like to stick around. “Horseman” explores the complexities of a young professor’s marriage and academic life, and “The Whore’s Child” negotiates the not-always-clear line between fact and fiction. The final piece, “High and Dry,” is Russo’s paean to the heyday of his hometown, Gloversville, New York.
Each of the four volumes is paired with a small, full-color print of a painting by Kate Russo. Printed in the United States on the finest sustainably harvested papers, the set is as much a joy to hold in the hand as it is to read.
