The Green Age of Asher Witherow

M Allen Cunningham

Oct 2005 · Unbridled Books

About this ebook

Supplying a quarter of San Francisco’s coal, Nortonville of the 1860s-70s is a flourishing empire in small, seeming to promise unending prosperity and a better future. But beneath the vibrant work ethic of its Welch citizens lies an insidious network of superstitions.

A missing boy first brings these dark undercurrents to light. Then young Asher Witherow falls under the spell of an unorthodox apprentice minister, stirring a whirlpool of suspicion and outrage. Soon Asher finds himself trapped in a nightmarish crucible, all the more excruciating because he himself could end it if he could only find the strength of will. This is a lesson the missing boy has taught him, and what he understands instinctively from the alluring Anna Flood, new to Nortonville, who with her raw sensuality and independence seems to offer some hope of redemption or even escape.

In this powerful debut from a young writer of stunning talent, M. Allen Cunningham takes us into a time and place at once gritty and magical, when the future seems filled with promise but where the day’s labor is bone breaking, numbing and always dangerous.

Gorgeously written, historically authentic, The Green Age of Asher Witherow is a novel of tested loyalties, of condemnation and redemption. The characters’ deep emotional lives are complex and vivid, fluctuating from the doomed to the transcendent. As he unpacks his heart, Asher comes to realize that all his early traumas have somehow bonded him to the land surrounding Mount Diablo and infused his life with an inward wealth—a treasure at which we can only wonder.

Ratings and reviews

About half way through this book, I said to the spouse that I couldn't imagine what the author could do to earn less than a 5-star review. Then I got to the ending and knew. The book is a coming-of-age story about the title character, a boy who grows up in a mid-19th century coal town. Although the book's plot was slow to get off the ground, I found it compelling nonetheless because the protagonist is likable, the narrator hints at Big Things coming, and the author's use of language is just amazing. It is chocked full of metaphor delightful to read. The atmosphere evoked by the book is rich and haunting. The language itself makes the book a pleasure to read. Furthermore, it is a nice change to read a slow-starter to be reminded of what can be achieved when an author takes his time to set a mood, and how much that enhances the story. Because when the story finally took off, the set-up became worth it. I audibly gasped at the first plot point, and from there I was hooked, compelled to watch a collision between one of the characters and the townsfolk of Nortonville. But when the climax came, it was kind of anticlimactic and dragged on far longer than it needed to.

About the author

M. Allen Cunningham is also the author of the novel Lost Son. His short fiction has also appeared in a number of literary magazines, including Glimmer Train, Boulevard, and Epoch. He grew up in California, living for nearly two decades in the Diablo Valley north of San Francisco, and now resides with his wife in Portland, Oregon.