American Sky

A Novel

James Grady

An atmospheric and dramatic novel set in mid-century Montana by the acclaimed author of Six Days of the Condor.

"Grady's style is loose, colorful, challenging and fun. I sometimes thought of Orwell’s novel 1984, sometimes of the Dylan song 'Desolation Row.'"—Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post

For the teenaged Luc, his days are preoccupied with the daily dramas of high school. President John F. Kennedy's assassination seems a world away. But the winds of history find their way to his small Montana town as marijuana clouds rise in the hallways and the notices of neighborhood young men "Killed in Action" in Vietnam keep arriving at an increasing rate.

Acclaimed novelist James Grady's American Sky brings to life the world of a young man who is caught in the nexus of vast social change. From blue-collar life in the heartland to Kent State and the Civil Rights movement, American Sky is a sweeping narrative that builds to a crime that threatens to tear Luc's world apart. Previously compared to Larry McMurtry, George Orwell, Harper Lee, and Bob Dylan, James Grady explores Bruce Springsteen's generation and has crafted an action-filled and timeless story destined to become a classic.

James Grady’s first novel Six Days Of The Condor became the classic Robert Redford movie Three Days Of The Condor and the current Max Irons TV series Condor.  Grady has received Italy’s Raymond Chandler Medal, France’s Grand Prix Du Roman Noir and Japan’s Baka-Misu literature award, two Regardies Magazine short story awards, and been a Mystery Writers of America Edgar finalist.  He's published more than a dozen novels and three times that many short stories, been a muckraker journalist and a scriptwriter for film and television. In 2008, London’s Daily Telegraph named Grady as one of “50 crime writers to read before you die.”  In 2015, The Washington Post compared his prose to George Orwell and Bob Dylan.

 

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Endorsements & Reviews

Praise for The Smoke in Our Eyes

"Small towns have long been the launch pads for great American literature, from To Kill A Mockingbird to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. It's time to welcome one more to the club. The Smoke in Our Eyes is an ambitiously expansive and yet winsomely intimate portrait of a young boy growing up in Vernon, Montana, in the late 1950s, a town that, as his sister puts it, 'has you pegged the day you're born.' Nobody tells a story better than Grady. With humor and wisdom, with a marvelous eye for the visceral details that bring an entire world into being, Grady chronicles a boy—and a nation—on the threshold of great change. Neither will ever be the same again." Julia Keller, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

"Though the threat of violence looms throughout the narrative, Grady delivers a spare tale of domestic tragedy, rich with nostalgia and memorable characters. Larry McMurty fans will enjoy themselves." Publishers Weekly

"Grady pivots from the intrigue of The Condor to a powerful, heartfelt coming-of-age tale set in the Last Best Place. Young Lucas gets his first pair of glasses and a good, long look at the underbelly of his hometown. From first crushes and family ties to profound love and deep injustice, The Smoke in Our Eyes is a brilliant portrait of an era. This book feels like home." Janet Skeslien Charles, national bestselling author of The Paris Library

"James Grady’s The Smoke In Our Eyes rounds up family, community, and the land like his rugged settler-cowhand forebearers… I savored the behaviors, concerns, speech patterns, accomplishments, failures, eccentricities, ids, egos, and the general feast of America and our place of origin in Smoke." Sidner Larson, PhD, author of 

"The Smoke in Our Eyes gives us a propulsive coming-of-age novel with a heart as big as its Montana high plains setting." Gwen Florio, award-winning Montana novelist and journalist

"This isn’t a coming-of-age story of a young boy, this is the coming-of-age story of a young nation, rendered on the canvas of rural America, circa 1959. A heart-rending meditation on how innocence becomes wisdom, how fate becomes freedom, and how nostalgia reveals truth. I loved this book!"  Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet