Language In the Blood
Edward Abbey Ecofiction Prize winner
Scott Talmadge is a birder, recruited from Massachusetts, to teach ornithology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He seeks out and stays with Tilghman, an old friend, who, unbeknownst to Scott, runs a secret network that brings refugees into the United States. In finding out what Tilghman is doing, Scott finds himself inexorably drawn into the enterprise. Language in the Blood details the beauty of the Southwestern landscape, while simultaneously exploring Scott’s involvement in a dangerous situation. Nelson's ability to weave together personal matters, psychological realities, and larger global concerns in clear, quiet prose is a tour de force.
Publisher: Gibbs Smith, 1991
“I think I know now why I wanted to see the rail,” I said. “It’s because birds are in me. They are in my blood, like a language. They were what I first knew how to love.”
“Like Dan O’Brien and Tom McGuane, Kent Nelson manages to convey grandly what people and places make of each other.”
“We didn’t make much of a ritual of it. We hiked up early in the morning before the clouds started in over the mountains. It was a pretty morning of blues and grays in the Sierritas and the Rincons. We could see Tucson’s haze in the far distance, and the cloud shadows on the desert all around us. The sun was warm, but the breeze up high was cool. Francie said a few words. Martha said a prayer. Each of us tossed some of Tilghman’s ashes into the wind.”
“The beauty of Kent Nelson’s fiction renews my faith in the power of realistic narrative. Tightly bound to the rough edges of the ordinary world, these stories are both lush and precise in their rendering of the things around us. Nelson pays the same close attention to his characters, all of which are deftly and lovingly drawn, and to the great continuing contest of man against himself.”
“His lean, smooth style lends itself to a thoroughly believable work of fiction about the delicacy and texture of relationships. Nelson treats his characters with thoughtfulness and grace, allowing them to deal with their fears and flaws with unfailing honesty. We come away richer for the experience.”