The summer of 1976 is a time not unlike our own--America is questioning what exactly it is while soldiers grapple with the afer-effects of an unpopular war. Ten year-old Eli Book is watching as his family seems to unravel before his very eyes. Along with his best friend, Edie, and an unforgettable cast of characters, Eli the Good provides a quintessentially American story about who we are as a nation. In this tender and relentless look at one family, House explores created families, friendships, loyalty, patriotism, and war. A #1 SIBA bestseller, Eli the Good is House's most complex and moving novel yet. "This generation's To Kill A Mockingbird."--Pamela Duncan. "The well-drawn characters and rich setting...make this a memorable story."--Kirkus Reviews. "House writes beautifully."--School Library Journal (starred). "Subtle poetry."--Publisher's Weekly. "Truly remarkable."--Foreword Magazine. "Eli Book will break your heart."--Southern Living. "Important."--Kirkus Reviews.
Eli the Good, by Silas House
Silas House is the New York Times bestselling author of eight novels (Clay's Quilt [2001], A Parchment of Leaves [2003], The Coal Tattoo [2005], Eli the Good [2009], Same Sun Here [2012], Southernmost [2018] and Lark Ascending [2022], which was a Booklist Editors' Choice and is the winner of the 2023 Southern Book Prize and the 2023 Nautilus Book Award. Four of his plays have been produced. He is also the author of the 2009 book of creative nonfiction Something's Rising (with co-author Jason Kyle Howard).In 2025 he will release two books: a poetry collection called All These Ghosts (September 19) and--under a slight pseudonym--a murder-mystery called Dead Man Blues (October 24).
In 2023 he was inducted as the Poet Laureate of Kentucky for 2023-2025 and became a Grammy finalist. In 2022 he was the recipient of the Duggins Prize, the largest award for an LGBTQ writer in the nation. The same year he was named Appalachian of the Year in a nationwide poll.
House's writing has appeared recently in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, Garden & Gun, The New York Times, The Bitter Southerner, and many more of the country's leading publications. House is a former commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered" and is the executive producer and one of the subjects of the documentary Hillbilly, winner of the LA Film Festival's Documentary Prize and the Foreign Press Association's Media Award; the film ran on Hulu, where it was seen by millions of viewers, and is now available to stream on all platforms. His 2018 novel Southernmost is currently in pre-production as a feature film. In 2023 he served as writer, co-producer, and creative director of the Tyler Childers video "In Your Love", earning nominations from the Grammys, the Academy of Country Music, an MTV Video Award, and the Country Music Television Awards, as well as becoming a #1 video on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.
As a music journalist, House has worked with Jason Isbell, Kacey Musgraves, Lucinda Williams, Tyler Childers, S.G. Goodman, Lee Ann Womack, Kris Kristofferson, S.G. Goodman, and many other musicians. He is the member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, the recipient of three honorary degrees, and has been given such honors as an E. B. White Award, the Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library/NAV Foundation, the Lee Smith Award, the Caritas Medal, the Hobson Medal, and many others. In 2015 he was invited to read at the Library of Congress.
House teaches at Berea College, where he is the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair, and at the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Creative Writing. In 2023 he served as one of five judges of the National Book Award in Fiction. A native of Eastern Kentucky, he now lives in Lexington, Kentucky.