The Cannibal Owl

Overview

Drifting through the broken plains of 1820s Texas, Aaron Gwyn's latest venture into the American frontier tells a riveting coming-of-age story. Inspired by the real-life figure Levi English, a settler who ran away to live with the Comanche (Nermernuh) People as a young boy, The Cannibal Owl follows his journey of not quite belonging within a community that is nevertheless kinder to him than his own family. When Levi is eventually forced to confront growing tensions among the tribal leaders, he must make difficult choices about loyalty and self-preservation amidst deep grief and unrelenting violence. A novella of cinematic prose steeped in Native culture, Levi's story evokes reflections on the complexities of identity against a stunning Southern Plains landscape.

Reviews

"Gwyn’s starkly poetic storytelling avoids romanticizing tribal life even as it depicts the deep bond that grows between the [two main characters]. So when the inevitable test of...loyalty arises, the series of choices [Goes Softly] makes are even more affecting."—Alida Becker, New York Times

"Gwyn writes with sparse, unflinching prose and a focus on Comanche Tribal customs; a story like this would be poorly served by flowery language or an inauthentic understanding of Native American tradition. Austere and cinematic." —Sarah Steers, Booklist

"Gwyn's story thrums with life." —Publishers Weekly

“The Cannibal Owl tells a story that resonates with the deep and abiding connection we all have to the soil and the soul of the place we are from while exploring the themes of individualism, loss, and regret, set against a rugged, yet ferociously beautiful landscape. One part Jack London, one part Larry McMurtry, The Cannibal Owl is a profoundly moving work.” —S.A Cosby, New York Times-bestselling author of All the Sinners Bleed and Razorblade Tears

“Here is a story about the simple things we cannot get away from lest we sacrifice our humanity. A story of growing up, of first love, of the ways we become part of the lives of others and the way they become part of ours. Of compassion and selfishness and hatred and revenge. But most of all, this is a story about loss. The losses that come at the hands of others and those that arrive by our own doing. And finally, of time. Time takes all. Gwyn has given us an American story of a kind now rarely seen.” —Sterling HolyWhiteMountain

“Gwyn conjures, with unsparing honesty, an ambitious vision of survival and acceptance. On a scale both intimate and epic, The Cannibal Owl immerses us in a tragic, intricate, and incisive dance of power and identity that I couldn’t put down.” —Briley Jones, Editor of Yemassee, Member of the Comanche Tribe

“Aaron Gwyn is that rarest of things: the genuine article. His voice is his own—American, unafraid, spikily poetic—and in The Cannibal Owl he writes like a traveler on a lonely road with no turning till we’re all back to the Garden.” —Darin Strauss, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award

Author Biography

Aaron Gwyn is the author of a story collection, Dog on the Cross (Algonquin Books), and three novels: The World Beneath (W.W. Norton), Wynne’s War (Mariner Books), and All God’s Children (Europa Editions). His work has appeared in Esquire, McSweeney’s, The Missouri Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Gettysburg Review, Swamp Pink, and The Spectator. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is an associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte where he teaches fiction writing and contemporary American fiction.