Jewelweed: A Novel

“Brave and inspiring…. Rhodes also has important things to say about humble, hardworking Americans at odds with contemporary American culture, which he finds predatory, corporate, and soulless. VERDICT An impressive and emotionally gratifying novel; highly recommended for fans of literary fiction.”
—Library Journal

“Masterful storytelling…. The characters in Driftless and Jewelweed are rendered with such care and precision that this little known region of the Midwest becomes dazzlingly alive. At the same time, Rhodes’ decision to publish again marks a welcome return of a master storyteller of real people who live in our small towns.”
—Steve Mills, Chicago Tribune Printers Row

“I liked Driftless, but his emotionally rich new novel, Jewelweed, a sequel of sorts, is even better. The novel emits frequent solar flares of surprise and wonder.”
—The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“A master of nuance, Rhodes picks up on those ‘inaudible rhythms’ that drive human actions: fear, regret, friendship, yearning, and a desire for forgiveness.”
—The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“[A] deeply moving meditation on the resonance of each individual life on a small Wisconsin town.”
—Wisconsin State Journal

“Jewelweed is a novel of forgiveness, a generous ode to the spirit’s indefatigable longing for love.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Jewelweed is another book that all Iowa should read.”
—Iowa Press-Citizen

“A benevolent sort of rural American magical realism…. profound.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Rhodes continues one of the great literary comebacks of all time, with this story of a parolee trying to adjust to living on the ragged edge along with the people he meets.”
—thirty-two magazine

“Jewelweed is an ode to ‘ditch beauty’—the small, fragile bursts of bright hope that unfurl even in the unlikeliest of places. It’s a novel that revels in the nuances of ordinary lives and crafts beauty from a loneliness that seems inescapable. More than anything, this is a book that will make readers fall back in love with good writing.”
—ForeWord Reviews

Bookseller Praise:

“Rhodes masterfully paints their many layered complexity in language so vivid and kind, it nearly renders the reader breathless. This is a damn fine novel.”
—Sheryl Cotleur, Copperfield’s Books, Sebastopol, CA

“Jewelweed is a remarkable piece of storytelling, soul-felt and deeply moving.”
—Mark LaFramboise, Politics & Prose, Washington, DC

“From philosophical prison inmates to childhood-haunted truckers, Rhodes’s melange of characters feels so real, you’d swear you lived among them.”
—Emily Crowe, Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA

“With Jewelweed, David Rhodes has once more produced a moving, deeply thoughtful novel, of poor people doing difficult things often against their best interests in a little town in the upper Midwest. He is the same writer, maybe better, as the author ofDriftless. A lovely book.“
—Paul Ingram, Prairie Lights, Iowa City, IA

“Skillfully wrought…Jewelweed is told in flawless prose with an endlessly interesting narrative. My return to Rhodes’ world reminds me that it has been too long since my last visit.”
—Sharon K. Nagel, Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, WI

“Jewelweed, a plant that looks like little pieces of jewelry strung together on heavy green thread, is an apt description of the people of Words, all tied together and realizing the importance of community to their individual lives. You will not want to miss a word of Rhodes’ magical, soul-felt novel.”
—Karen Briggs, Great Northern Books & Hobbies, Oscoda, MI

“David Rhodes takes seemingly mundane events, and makes them magic…. Jewelweed has been my first foray into his writing, but will certainly not be my last.”
—Jack Hannert, Brilliant Books, Traverse City, MI

“Set in the same fictional southwestern Wisconsin town as Rhodes’ popular Driftless, Jewelweed will be the next great story about this area. It’s quite marvelous.”
—John Christensen, Arcadia Books, Spring Green, WI

“In Jewelweed, David Rhodes tells a fine, thoughtful story with rich and marvelous language.”
—Jill Webb, The Cottage Book Shop, Glen Arbor, MI

“Rhodes builds a homecoming story around the good people of Words, Wisconsin. Be prepared for a wild ride! Oddballs and unlikely alliances are at the heart of this tale of love and risk and redemption.”
—Ann Woodbeck, Excelsior Bay Books, Excelsior, MN

“I read a lot of literary fiction. I chew through it. But the thing about Rhodes is when somebody says, ‘Recommend to me a writer who knows how to write; where I can actually fall in love with the words, where I’m quoting the book,’ I know I can go to David Rhodes.”
—Chris Livingston, The Book Shelf, Winona, MN

“I love David Rhodes because he writes about the power of one person to change their world. Quietly changing your landscape for the better, it’s the best interpretation of American individualism. “
—Keri Rojas, Cornerstone Cottage, Hampton, IA

Praise for Driftless:

MILKWEED NATIONAL FICTION PRIZE WINNER
ALL IOWA READS SELECTION 2010

“Reminiscent of Steinbeck…with a little touch of Michener…[Driftless] offers deep philosophical and meditative asides.”
—Alan Cheuse, on NPR’s All Things Considered

“David Rhodes’ new novel, Driftless, is reason to celebrate….[He] has not lost one ounce of the mastery for which he was recognized in the first place.”
—Kevin Larimer, in a feature on David Rhodes in Poets & Writers

“Driftless is just marvelous.”
—Paul Ingram, Prairie Lights Bookstore, Iowa City, IA

“A fast moving story about small town life.”
—Jeffrey Trachtenberg, in a feature on David Rhodes in The Wall Street Journal

“Driftless is such a rewarding read—a surely written, patient book about small town life…[It] shares a rhythm with the farming community it documents, and its reflective pace is well-suited to characters who are far more comfortable with hard work than with words….A wry generous book.”
—Yvonee Zipp, The Christian Science Monitor

“His Robert Alman-esque new novel, Driftless, marks his triumphant reemergence in the book world after thirty-three years…”
—Kera Bolonik, intro to Q&A with David Rhodes in BookForum

“The best work of fiction to come out of the midwest in many years.”
—Chicago Tribune

“Driftless has been a long time coming, but definitely worth the wait…vividly imagined, shrewd, and compassionate. He is a master at uncovering the extraordinary lives of seemly ordinary people. The characters of his small town rural town become as mysterious, interconnected, and richly idiosyncratic as the landscape they struggle against and embrace. A wonderful novel.”
—Joseph Kanon

“This novel shows how rural people deal with a world they can’t quite control; it echoes the late 19th century’s Naturalism, in that sense. It’s a beautiful novel that captures the essence of the Midwest perfectly.” (five stars)
—Patrick Andrews, Age 29, Male, Arlington Heights, IL on Goodreads.com (where it has a rating of 3.94 after 877 reviews)

“Such an uncommon novel…full of nuance, full of threat, full of action, full of sorrow, full of the whole scope of human experience….a very serious, gorgeous, funny and really beautiful novel.”
—Anna Clark, The Collagist, from her YouTube video

Praise for David Rhodes upon publication in the 1970’s:

“One of the best eyes in recent fiction…Nothing in Rhodes’ vision is secondhand.”
—John Gardner, On Becoming a Novelist

“A brilliant writer.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer

“A damn fine novel—one of the best kinds—where ordinary people living ordinary lives are drawn by the deft and lyrical touch of the author in such an achingly rich way, one quietly marvels.&; — Sheryl Cotleur, Copperfield&;s Books, Sebastopol, California

“Rhodes describes the natural world and his characters&; inner lives with equal passion, creating an ensemble as natural to its landscape as the trees. Jewelweed is a remarkable piece of storytelling, soul-felt and deeply moving.&; — Mark Laframboise, Politics & Prose Bookstore, Washington, DC

“David Rhodes takes seemingly mundane events, and makes them magic. The everyday is made spectacular through his telling.&; — Jack Hannert, Brilliant Books, Traverse City, Michigan

“From philosophical prison inmates to childhood-haunted truckers, Rhodes&;s mélange of characters feels so real, you&;d swear you lived among them.&; — Emily Crowe, The Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, Massachusetts

“With Jewelweed, David Rhodes has once more produced a moving, deeply thoughtful novel, of poor people doing difficult things, often against their best interests. He is the same writer, maybe better, as the author of Driftless.&; — Paul Ingram, Prairie Lights Books, Iowa City, Iowa
When David Rhodes burst onto the American literary scene in the seventies, he was hailed as a “brilliant visionary&; (John Gardner), and compared to Sherwood Anderson. With Driftless, “the best work of fiction to come out of the Midwest in many years&; (Alan Cheuse), Rhodes brought Words, Wisconsin, to life in a way that resonated with readers across America. Now, with Jewelweed, this beloved author returns to the Driftless Region, and introduces a cast of characters who all find themselves struggling to find a new sense of belonging in the present moment—sometimes with the help of peach preserves or mashed potato pie.

After serving time for a conviction, Blake Bookchester returns home, enthralled by the philosophy of Spinoza and yearning for the woman he loves. Having agitated for his release, Reverend Winifred Helm slowly comes to understand that she is no longer fulfilled by the ministry. Winnie&;s precocious son, August, and his best friend, Ivan, befriend a hermit and roam the woods in search of the elusive Wild Boy. And Danielle Workhouse, Ivan&;s single mother and Blake&;s former lover, struggles to do right by her son. These and other inhabitants of Words—all flawed, deeply human, and ultimately universal—approach the future with a combination of hope and trepidation, increasingly mindful of the importance of community to their individual lives.

Rich with a sense of empathy and wonder, Jewelweed offers a vision in which the ordinary becomes mythical, and the seemingly mundane is transformed into revelatory beauty.

As a young man, David Rhodes worked in fields, hospitals, and factories across Iowa. After receiving an MFA from the Iowa Writers&; Workshop, he published three acclaimed novels: The Last Fair Deal Going Down (1972), The Easter House (1974), and Rock Island Line (1975). In 1976, a motorcycle accident left him partially paralyzed. In 2008, Rhodes returned to the literary scene with Driftless, a novel that was hailed as “the best work of fiction to come out of the Midwest in many years&; (Alan Cheuse). Following the publication of Driftless, Rhodes was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2010, to support the writing of Jewelweed. He lives with his wife, Edna, in Wisconsin.