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Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Jennifer Norton, a bookseller at The Homer Bookstore in Homer, Alaska.

Samuel Hawley has a violent past, and his body shows it: He has twelve bullet wound scars.

And over the course of Hannah Tinti's novel, Samuel tells his daughter Loo the story behind each of them. 

In "The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley," Tinti weaves together a father's secrets with a daughter's coming-of-age story. 

Jennifer Norton loved it. She became a fan of Tinti's a few years ago, when Tinti came through Homer with her previous novel, "The Good Thief." 

Alaska is just one of the places in "Twelve Lives" where Samuel earns a bullet wound. The sense of place that Tinti instills in her novel is one of the reasons Norton loved it. 

The settings of the Samuel's scar stories range from an inn in the desert to Alaska to the northeastern coast of the U.S.

Arts and Culture

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

Ask a bookseller

Tracy Mumford

Author

In 'The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley,' a father reveals his secrets to his daughter, one scar at a time.

Jennifer Norton recommends a book about a man with a violent past, who slowly reveals his secrets to his daughter.

Ask a bookseller: The Homer Bookstore in Homer, Alaska

'The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley' by Hannah Tinti

The stories behind twelve different bullet wounds

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