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Mark Spragg Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Mark Spragg

Mark Spragg

Mark Spragg Biography

Mark Spragg is the author of Where Rivers Change Direction, and the novels The Fruit of Stone, An Unfinished Life, and Bone Fire. All four were top-ten Book Sense selections and have been translated into fifteen languages.

Mark Spragg's website

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Interview

Mark Spragg discusses his new book, An Unfinished Life, in detail and describes how he and his wife worked simultaneously on the screenplay for the movie (starring Robert Redford) and the novel at the same time.

You've said that the idea for this book began with the image of an embittered old man sitting alone on his porch. Where did this scene come from?
For me, most stories start as a single scene that refuses to leave my imagination. I've often wondered what prompts them, because they rarely–when they first start up–appear to be connected to anything that's going on in my life. In this case, the scene was a man approaching seventy, sitting tightly in a chair on a porch, surrounded by a mob of half-feral cats. He kept reappearing in my mind–occasionally in my dreams–and inevitably I started the process of questioning myself about him. Why is he embittered? Does he own a chance for personal redemption? Who else shares his suffering? It's the process of questioning that ends up defining some sort of story.

Is the character of Einar Gilkyson, which this man became and who anchors the novel, based on anyone?
Einar wasn't fashioned after any particular man I know, but his dedication to his daily work, the land he husbands, his family–whether blood or not–I'm sure has been influenced by the old men that participated in my upbringing: the old cowboys that worked my ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Mark Spragg at BookBrowse
Bone Fire jacket An Unfinished Life jacket The Fruit of Stone jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Mark Spragg but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • C.J. Box

    C.J. Box

    C. J. Box is the author of thirty books, including the Joe Pickett series and the Cassie Dewell series, and a story collection. His books have been translated into twenty-seven languages. He has won the Edgar, Anthony, ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Fruit of Stone

    Try:
    Winterkill: A Joe Pickett Novel
    by C.J. Box

  • Charles Frazier

    Charles Frazier

    Charles Frazier was born in 1950 in Asheville, North Carolina and grew up in the mountains of North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1973,  received an M.A. from Appalachian State ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    An Unfinished Life

    Try:
    Cold Mountain
    by Charles Frazier

We recommend 9 similar authors

View all 9 Read-Alikes

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