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Plainsong, set in Kent Haruf''s fictional Holt County, Colorado, is an unforgettable classic, exploring the grace and hope of every human life, and our boundless capacity for love.‘So delicate and lovely that it has the power to exalt the reader’ The New York TimesTom Guthrie is struggling to bring up his two young sons alone and, in the same town, school girl Victoria Roubideaux is pregnant and homeless.Brothers Harold and Raymond McPheron – gentle, solitary, gruff and unpolished – agree to take Victoria in, unaware that their lives will change forever.A novel of haunting beauty from one of America''s greatest writers, published 25 years ago this year, Plainsong is an essential read from the Picador Collection, a curated list of era-defining modern classics.

Set in a fictional Colorado town, Kent Haruf's Where You Once Belonged brings to life small town America and the characters that keep the community together. Heavy-built Jack Burdette is quite literally too big for his boots – and too big, certainly, for the small-town attitudes of Holt, Colorado. But when he fails to make the grade as a college footballer, and takes a job with the local farmers’ cooperative, it seems he has finally settled into the rhythm and routine of everyday life.Outward appearances can be deceptive, however, as Jack proves: returning from a weekend conference with a new wife in tow, then leaving her behind and skipping town with a bundle of other folks’ money. Nearly a decade later, no one has forgiven or forgotten, and when Jack reappears, resentment runs high. Once again though, it is Jack whose presence – even more than his eight-year absence – proves the most devastating.