Mitch Cullin

In 1947, ninety-three-year-old Sherlock Holmes lives out his retirement in a remote Sussex farmhouse with a housekeeper and her young son, Roger, who stumbles upon information about Holmes's secret past and long-ago infatuation with Mrs. Keller, while the one-time master detective tends his apiary, writes in journals, and copes with the fading powers of his mind. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.

A Novel

A Slight Trick of the Mind

A look at the world through the eyes of a wildly imaginative young girl in contemporary Texas.

Tideland

Whompyjawed

It is 1947, and the long-retired Sherlock Holmes, now 93, lives in a remote Sussex farmhouse with his housekeeper and her young son. He tends to his bees, writes in his journal, and grapples with the diminishing powers of his mind. But in the twilight of his life, as people continue to look to him for answers, Holmes revisits a case that may provide him with answers of his own to questions he didn't even know he was asking - about life, about love, and about the limits of the mind's ability to know.

A slight trick of the mind

Peter Chang

Struggling to make sense of his life in America, prepubescent immigrant Samuel Chu grapples with the mysteries of learning a language, navigates the urban streets of Los Angeles on a pair of roller skates in the dubious company of ghostly strangers, and finds himself at odds with his young mother when it comes to her unrealistic expectations about who he should be. An affectionate chronicle of one boy's formative months in a new country, Everything Beautiful is Far Away is also an intimate portrait of the complicated relationship between a mother and her only child. "Funny, poetic, often surreal, and beautifully written... A subtle, modern metaphorical retelling of Siddhartha's journey beyond the palace and out into the world." -Lin Bo-Hua, A Year of a Thousand Cranes

Everything Beautiful Is Far Away

From the Place in the Valley Deep in the Forest

Hafif Bir Akil Tutulmasi

A collection that deftly suggests we are all emigrants from personal histories we recall only fleetingly and can barely grasp- polished and graceful stories.

Stories

Sono trascorsi quarantaquattro anni da quando Sherlock Holmes ha abbandonato il suo appartamento in Baker Street e si è trasferito in un cottage sul versante meridionale delle colline del Sussex. Aveva quarantanove anni allora, e il trambusto delle strade di Londra, così come gli intricati pantani architettati dalle menti criminali, all’improvviso non lo attirarono più. Ora è un novantreenne con i capelli candidi, folti e lunghi e la pelle che sembra un velo sottile di carta di riso sopra un fragile scheletro. A volte si fruga in tasca alla ricerca di un sigaro o di un cerino introvabile; a volte dimentica volti e fatti, visti e accaduti giusto qualche istante prima. A dispetto, però, di questi imperscrutabili cedimenti della memoria, è ancora agile di corpo e di mente e il suo sguardo conserva una luce che gli anni non hanno smorzato. La vita nel Sussex va, dunque, oltre il semplice appagamento. Holmes trascorre la maggior parte delle sue ore di veglia nella serena solitudine del suo studio oppure tra le creature che costituiscono l’oggetto delle sue cure da quarantaquattro anni a questa parte: le api. Roger, il figlio sveglio di Mrs Munro, la governante di casa, lo aiuta agli alveari. E sebbene non apprezzi molto la compagnia dei bambini, Holmes non può negare che quel ragazzo, così appassionato nell’apprendere i fondamenti dell’apicultura e così entusiasta del regalo delle api giapponesi da lui portate dal faticoso viaggio nel paese del Sol Levante, susciti in lui autentiche emozioni paterne. Un detective è però un detective, soprattutto se reca il leggendario nome di Sherlock Holmes. Accade così che, nel chiuso del suo studio, Holmes prenda i panni di Watson, il braccio destro scomparso da un po’, e ricostruisca per iscritto una vicenda accaduta tempo addietro: il bizzarro e irrisolto caso di una giovane donna che, dopo aver appreso a suonare un’armonica a vetro – uno strumento i cui toni acuti e penetranti avevano per molti poteri diabolici o divini, a seconda dei punti di vista –, va incontro a un tragico destino. Mr Holmes è un libro brillante sulla vita, sull’amore e sugli scherzi che la memoria può giocare anche al più logico degli investigatori. Un romanzo avvincente, che segna il ritorno di uno dei personaggi più celebri della letteratura e più amati dal pubblico. L’opera ha avuto una trasposizione cinematografica accolta con entusiasmo dalla critica al Festival di Berlino, un film in cui il ruolo dell’anziano Sherlock Holmes è magistralmente interpretato da Ian McKellen. «Mitch Cullin ha concepito un romanzo ambizioso e scritto meravigliosamente, in cui Holmes è alle prese con l’avanzare degli anni». Publishers Weekly «Con mano sicura Cullin trasforma l’investigatore brillante e abile, che tutti conosciamo, in un uomo che si guarda indietro anche con un po’ di nostalgia, rendendocelo sorprendentemente umano». Booklist «Straordinario! Il nostro eroe non è mai stato così eroico e, allo stesso tempo, umano». The Village Voice «Bellissimo. Mitch Cullin è un insolito osservatore della natura umana». The New York Times Book Review

Il mistero del caso irrisolto

Mr Holmes

1947 finds Holmes living in a Sussex farmhouse at 93 with a housekeeper and her son, Roger, who discovers evidence of a case never before reported, a case involving a Mrs. Keller, the long-ago object of Holmes's affection.

It is 1947, and the long-retired Sherlock Holmes lives in a remote Sussex farmhouse with his housekeeper and her young son. He tends to his bees, writes in his journal, and grapples with the diminishing powers of his mind. But in the twilight of his life, as people continue to look to him for answers, Holmes revisits a case that may provide him with answers of his own to questions he didn't even know he was asking - about life, about love, and about the limits of the mind's ability to know. Now a major film starring Sir Ian McKellen, directed by Oscar-winner Bill Condon. Previously published as A Slight Trick of The Mind.

The basis for the Major Motion Picture Mr. Holmes starring Ian McKellen and Laura Linney and directed by Bill Condon. It is 1947, and the long-retired Sherlock Holmes, now 93, lives in a remote Sussex farmhouse with his housekeeper and her young son. He tends to his bees, writes in his journal, and grapples with the diminishing powers of his mind. But in the twilight of his life, as people continue to look to him for answers, Holmes revisits a case that may provide him with answers of his own to questions he didn’t even know he was asking–about life, about love, and about the limits of the mind’s ability to know. A novel of exceptional grace and literary sensitivity, A Slight Trick of the Mind is a brilliant imagining of our greatest fictional detective and a stunning inquiry into the mysteries of human connection.

The stories and characters in this diverse collection of stories from the acclaimed novelist Mitch Cullin provide a fascinating gloss on events that have taken place in the second half of the 20th century. They begin at a remote Japanese beach house and end on an unnamed Alaskan island. These are stories about isolation, remembrances of past experiences, and the sometimes inaccurate nature of memory. Cullin's stories examine individuals who have survived momentous, often horrific, social upheavals-where relationships and common day-to-day life are suddenly shaken by unforeseen circumstances. `From the Place in the Valley Deep in the Forest' is a collection that deftly suggests we are all emigrants from personal histories we recall only fleetingly-moments which draw us back, but, as we imagine them, seem increasingly difficult to grasp. These polished and graceful stories are further evidence of the kind of work that makes Cullin one of our best young writers. "If something of the experimentalist shows in Cullin's novels, his stories are old-fashioned in the best sense, reporting slices of life as the characters experience them in a language that is economical yet richly evocative because of its precision."-Booklist

Mr. Holmes

At Eric’s Rotisserie, Bing sat outside by himself, nursing white zinfandel beneath the large sunshade that jutted from the center of his table, while blustery wind roamed across campus—swirling dead leaves and bits of trash around the chairs and tables, flapping the awnings on the massive umbrellas. The weather kept the patio abandoned, and Bing preferred it that way—no chatty couples nearby, no loudmouth students talking about sports, or, even worse, popular music. On this chilly afternoon, he didn’t care that he was alone. He didn’t care that he’d left his coat in his office. And, for a moment, he almost didn’t mind that his head wasn’t quite screwed on tightly today. In The Cosmology of Bing Mitch Cullin offers a tale of intersecting lives during one school year in Houston: the college student and his artist roommate, the reclusive poet, the astronomer studying a supernova at a remote West Texas observatory, the young Japanese woman hopelessly in love with her gay friend—and at the center of this group is Bing Owen, a college professor who drowns his heartbreak, paranoia, and secret desires with alcohol. It’s a darkly humorous novel about longing, buried feelings and muted relationships, forgotten poetry and thrown pies—in which the mysteries of love, the interconnectedness of individuals, and the inexplicable nature of attraction occupy the same microcosm as exploding stars, ghost lights, and specters from the past.

Mitch Cullin

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