Brothers Phil and George Burbank, wealthy ranchers in 1920s Montana, have slept in the same bedroom for 40 years. Together they manage the day‑to-day running of their huge cattle farm, but while George is steady and decent, Phil is a whirlwind of malign energy: a skilled reader and craftsman, he’s also a vicious bully and outspoken homophobe. When George marries local widow Rose and moves her on to the ranch, Phil is appalled, and sets out to destroy the newcomer and her “sissy” son. Optimistically billed as the next Stoner, this 1967 reissue is in fact the better novel: Savage has constructed, against scenery “vast and hostile to individual hope”, a rich and challenging psychodrama, based on brilliant characterisation – particularly of Rose, for whom living becomes “so narrow that she brooded nights on what to wear the next day”, and the monstrous Phil. With its echoes of East of Eden and Brokeback Mountain, this satisfyingly complex story deserves another shot at rounding up public admiration.
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