Friday Freebie: The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak

Congratulations to Andrew Beck, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: Touch by Alexi Zentner.

This week's book giveaway is The Sojourn, a riveting novel about World War One snipers by Andrew Krivak.  I just finished reading The Sojourn and will have a review at The Barnes and Noble Review in the near future.  In the meantime, I can tell you it's a gritty, lyrical addition to classic combat fiction.  I'd have no problem putting it on the same shelf as All Quiet on the Western Front and A Farewell to Arms.  It's Krivak's first novel and he has penetrated the warrior's psyche to such a degree you can almost feel the callouses on your trigger finger.  The Sojourn comes to us from Bellevue Literary Press, the same folks who published Paul Harding's Pulitzer-winning Tinkers, so that should give you some idea how good Krivak's novel is.

Here's the publisher's blurb, which only scratches the surface of the book's excellence:

Uprooted from a nineteenth-century mining town in Colorado by a shocking family tragedy, young Jozef Vinich returns with his father to an impoverished shepherd's life in rural Austria-Hungary.  When war comes, Jozef is sent as a sharpshooter to the southern front, where he must survive the killing trenches, a perilous trek across the frozen Italian Alps, and capture by a victorious enemy.

Sebastian Smee of The Boston Globe had this to say about the novel:

"Surging in pace and momentum, The Sojourn is a deeply affecting narrative conjured by the rhythms of Krivak's superb and sinuous prose.  Intimate and keenly observed, it is a war story, love story, and coming of age novel all rolled into one.  I thought of Lermontov and Stendhal, Joseph Roth, and Cormac McCarthy as I read.  But make no mistake.  Krivak's voice and sense of drama are entirely his own."

If you'd like a chance at winning a copy of The Sojourn, all you have to do is answer this question (the answer to which can be found at the author's website):

Who was Krivak's inspiration for the novel?

Email your answer to thequiveringpen@gmail.com

Put FRIDAY FREEBIE in the e-mail subject line.  One entry per person, please.  Please e-mail me the answer, rather than posting it in the comments section.  Despite its name, the Friday Freebie runs all week long.  SPECIAL NOTE: This Friday Freebie will run for two weeks and will remain open to entries until midnight on May 26--at which time I'll draw the winning name.  I'll announce the lucky reader on May 27.

Fans of the short story are in for a special treat next week (May 16-21) as The Quivering Pen honors National Short Story Month with daily giveaways.  Visit the blog each day for contests and original essays contributed by the authors.