Nothing Gold Can Stay: Stories - Tapa dura

"Rash's short stories thematically paint Appalachia not as a definitive place but as a series of many interconnected ways of relating to human and environmental frailty. Another fine addition to the Rash bibliography, and a great entry point for the uninitiated reader."--Library Journal

"Rash impresses with clear-eyed, sympathetic writing about flawed and troubled characters."--Publishers Weekly

." . . a wonderful collection."--Booklist

"Ron Rash's fifth story collection, NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY, set in hardscrabble Appalachia, has a tone and temperament like that of his compatriot Eudora Welty, with a twist of Barry Hannah."--Elle

"Striking . . . engaging . . . mesmerizing . . . After finishing this collection, one simply just wants to read more of Ron Rash."--Minneapolis Star Tribune

"[Rash's] starkly beautiful prose has mapped the heart and soul of southern Appalachia in a way few writers of his generation can match. . . A splendid new collection. . . shimmering, liquid poetry. . ."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"A lovely, essential new collection of stories . . . lyrical and honest, grounded in place yet sweeping in scope. . . . .[Rash's] prose is elegant, suggestive, and Hardyesque."--Boston Globe

"In his new collection of stories, Ron Rash stunningly renders his native Appalachia as an exotic planetoid governed by its own peculiar orbital laws . . . Rash is a fast-rising superstar in the North Carolina literary constellation that includes such luminaries as Michael Parker, Clyde Edgerton and Phillip Gerard."--Charlotte Observer

"With NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY, Ron Rash cements his reputation as one of the foremost chroniclers of that mythic uber-America known as the South. . . At his best, Rash evokes an understated poignancy that is genuinely affecting. . .--Washington Post

"Masterfully crafted. The best of Rash's stories, written in a spare prose style, have an aching lyricism as they chronicle the hard times and hard fall of his characters. The best of the best will haunt the reader long after they're done."--Washington Independent Review of Books

This collection of stories navigates the emotionally harsh terrain of Appalachia and includes The Trusty, in which a convict sent to fetch water for the chain gang tries to convince a farmer's young wife to help him escape, but she is trapped in her own prison. 25,000 first printing.