Separations [Paperback]

Set in the polite society of 19th-century San Francisco and along the rapids of the Colorado River, this novel attempts to dramatize the emerging conflicts between land developers and preservationists and between the native inhabitants of the West and the newcomers. When a prestigious California literary magazine changes hands, the new owner, a pompous industrialist named Daggett, proposes a journey down the Grand Canyon to discredit the fieldwork of John Wesley Powell decades before. One of Daggett's editors, Mary Temple, the "Poetess of Russian Hill," suggests that the expedition also include the rescue of a white woman?who happens to be her sister?from the Hoya Indians. The historical settings are full of interesting details, but the characters fail to live and breathe apart from the roles they have been assigned as observers of history. The awkward dialog is full of melodramatic cliches, especially in the exchanges between Mary and her lover, Beau. Hall, best known for his numerous plot-driven Westerns, including Warlock (LJ 10/15/96), has exceeded his grasp by attempting to merge social commentary with an adventure novel.?Charlotte L. Glover, Ketchikan P.L., Ak.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"Hall evokes the dust and danger of the Old West, without falling victim to commonplace trappings of genre Western fiction. As sublimely detailed as the John Wesley Powell illustration which adorns it cover, Separations distills the sweep of an epic into a compact tale of survival and innocence lost. It is a remarkable book." -- Independent Publisher

"Publication of any novel by Oakley Hall calls for champagne, but Separations demands the jolt of tequila to celebrate its tale of raw adventure laced with action, greed, and lust. . . . Wonderfully drawn characters and evocative settings that include San Francisco and Mormon settlements in Arizona weigh strong among the book's merits; but most captivating of all is the Colorado River and Grand Canyon combination that dwarfs all but man's spirit as the adventurers struggle to survive their encounter with forces of nature. A terrific reading experience." -- Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Oakley Hall is one of the country's finest writers. In Separations, he has given us a beautifully written, authentic and colorful evocation of the American West. His story of river exploration and commercial intrigue in the late nineteenth century speaks directly to our twentieth century environmental concerns. -- Robert Stone, Dog Soldiers

Separations is nothing less than a story of American conquest matched against unique American innocence. It is a large, imposing and rich book, fitted perfectly to its vision of our history. As I read it, I didn't want it to end. -- Richard Ford, Independence Day

This wonderful story may be the most sophisticated novel of the frontier ever written. It combines two previously uncombined elements--the early California literary world, one of great diversity and vigor--and the raw blending edges of the frontier experience--and all in a way which will delight and divert the reader. -- Thomas Keneally, Schindler's List

Separations, a novel by writer Oakley Hall about a 19th century rafting expedition on the wild and beautiful Colorado River to the Grand Canyon, is filled with adventure, intrigue, and human drama.

Hall belongs to a special breed of writers who invoke the Western to convey cosmic themes. In Separations, the themes resonate with our contemporary culture: divisions between environmental exploiters and conservationists, between religious groups, between men and women.

A master of the genre called "cowboy existentialism," Hall is the creator of books that became the films Warlock and Downhill Racer.

Both history and entertainment, Separations is a thrilling read.

Oakley Hall's novel Separations, is the story of an early exploration of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, following John Wesley Powell. Hall has long been concerned with the historical West, beginning with Warlock, which was made into a major motion picture of Twentieth-Century Fox and reissued by the University of Nevada Press. Warlock, The Bad Lands, and Apaches comprise a trilogy of western legend.

Others of Hall's twenty-one novels with historical context are The Coming of the Kid, The Children of the Sun, which follows the conquest of Mexico and Cabeza de Vaca's great journey, and The Adelita, set in the 1910 Mexican Revolution. He is also the author of The Art and Craft of Novel Writing, and is presently at work on a novel of young love and war in the early years of World War II.

For twenty years, Hall was the Director of the Programs in writing at the University of California at Irvine and is General Director of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.