Hazel: A Novel by David Huddle

This is David Huddle’s 21st book. It is the retrospective story of an eccentric old Vermont spinster. “Long one of the true masters of American fiction, David Huddle here shows himself at the height of his powers. Hazel stuns us, for one thing, by its capacity to arouse affection for the title character, who, abstractly described, would seem to invite dislike. . . . To call the novel’s narrative strategy ‘inventive’ would almost amount to an insult, so dazzling and persuasive is its delivery of this truth.” – Sydney Lea.  "David Huddle introduces Ms. Hazel Hicks, a maiden lady of a certain age, and as improbable a literary hero as has come along in many years. Hazel puts the lone in loner. She is eccentric, solitary, severe, humorless, discontented, self-absorbed, and nearly invisible to others in her family and milieu. Hazel s would seem to be the life story of one who has no life. Nevertheless, owing to her creator's utterly assured, sympathetic, multifaceted storytelling, she is nev