A riveting story of baseball, pop culture, nostalgia, masculinity, and so much more, Mark Di Ionno's Gods of Wood and Stone is pure heat from a veteran at the top of his game.
Gods of Wood and Stone
A Novel
Description
Two men from disparate worlds search for what constitutes a meaningful life in a searing portrait of honor and masculinity, sport and celebrity, marriage and parenthood in this “rough, tough, and thoughtful” (Phil Mushnick, New York Post) debut from Pulitzer Prize finalist and front-page columnist Mark Di Ionno.
Joe Grudeck is a living legend—a first-ballot Hall of Famer beloved by Boston Red Sox fans who once played for millions under the bright Fenway lights. Now, he finds himself haunted by his own history, searching for connection in a world that’s alienated his true self beneath his celebrity persona. Soon, he’ll step back into the spotlight once more with a very risky Cooperstown acceptance speech that has the power to change everything—except the darkness in his past.
Horace Mueller is a different type altogether—working in darkness at a museum blacksmith shop and living in a rundown farmhouse on the outskirts of Cooperstown, New York. He clings to an antiquated lifestyle, fueled by nostalgia for simpler times and a rebellion against the sport-celebrity lifestyle of Cooperstown. His baseball prodigy son, however, veers towards everything Horace has spent his life railing against.
Gods of Wood and Stone is the story of these two men—a timeless, but strikingly singular tale of the responsibilities of manhood and the pitfalls of glory in a painful and exhilarating novel that’s distinctly American. “Delivered with a fan’s passion, a journalist’s eye for detail, and the unblinking courage of a storyteller, Mark Di Ionno knocks it out of the park with this piercing literary thriller” (Bryan Gruley, award-winning author of the Starvation Lake trilogy).
Reviews
As a sportswriter, sports columnist, at-large columnist and now an accomplished author, Mark Di Ionno has succeeded because he shares his sharp and unafraid probings of life and lives beneath their exteriors. Gods of Wood and Stone is rough, tough and thoughtful, blending his considerable abilities.
Gods of Wood and Stone isn’t a baseball novel; it’s a story of what really afflicts American men: disappointment. Mark Di Ionno is a gifted writer and renders his characters in ways both ruthless and empathetic. You won’t forget Joe Grudeck. Or Horace Mueller. They live. They stay with you. They want you to know: what we learn of our heroes hurts less than what they learn of themselves.
Engrossing from the first page, this clear-eyed and atmospheric novel hurtled me through a roller coaster of emotions—from curiosity to outrage to relief. How are American men raised to think about fame, talent, hard work, and women? What happens when two men with opposing worldviews get in each other’s way? Gods of Wood and Stone raises important questions of our time.
