Papá Lewis se sienta en el porche de casa junto a su mujer. El calor del  verano de Colorado abrasa, pero él bebe despacio una cerveza bien fría  mientras mira hacia las llanuras que se extienden más allá de donde le  alcanza la vista. Le queda poco tiempo para disfrutar de estos grandes  placeres cotidianos -su esposa, su pueblo, su casa-, pues le acaban de  anunciar que está gravemente enfermo. Le quedan solo unos meses de vida.

A partir de esta noticia, descubrimos la terquedad y la ternura de Papá  Lewis y la vida de los otros habitantes del pequeño pueblo de Holt, por el que ya paseamos en La canción de la llanura y  Al final de la tarde, las dos primeras partes de la Trilogía de la Llanura, que  ahora concluye con esta historia independiente. Kent Haruf teje una red  de personajes y de relaciones formadas y transformadas a lo largo de las  décadas, aderezadas con un viento constante y con el sempiterno olor a paja, tierra y trigo  del noreste estadounidense.

Sin necesidad de alzar la voz y sin grandes artilugios literarios, Bendición es un himno solemne a los profundos y duraderos lazos  que se establecen entre la gente común para afrontar las dificultades.  Una reflexión magistral sobre el final de la vida, sobre cada una de las  etapas intermedias y sobre los sueños y las esperanzas que nos sostienen durante el camino.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year

From the beloved and best-selling author of Plainsong and Eventide comes a story of life and death, and the ties that bind, once again set out on the High Plains in Holt, Colorado.

When Dad Lewis is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he and his wife, Mary, must work together to make his final days as comfortable as possible. Their daughter, Lorraine, hastens back from Denver to help look after him; her devotion softens the bitter absence of their estranged son, Frank, but this cannot be willed away and remains a palpable presence for all three of them. Next door, a young girl named Alice moves in with her grandmother and contends with the painful memories that Dad's condition stirs up of her own mother's death. Meanwhile, the town’s newly arrived preacher attempts to mend his strained relationships with his wife and teenaged son, a task that proves all the more challenging when he faces the disdain of his congregation after offering more than they are accustomed to getting on a Sunday morning. And throughout, an elderly widow and her middle-aged daughter do everything they can to ease the pain of their friends and neighbors.

Despite the travails that each of these families faces, together they form bonds strong enough to carry them through the most difficult of times.  Bracing, sad and deeply illuminating, Benediction captures the fullness of life by representing every stage of it, including its extinction, as well as the hopes and dreams that sustain us along the way. Here Kent Haruf gives us his most indelible portrait yet of this small town and reveals, with grace and insight, the compassion, the suffering and, above all, the humanity of its inhabitants.