Northern Borders: A Novel

by Howard Frank Mosher

A New York Times Notable A novel about growing up in a remote corner of Vermont, from the author Richard Russo calls “one of our very best writers.”   When six-year-old Austen Kittredge was sent up north to live on his grandparents’ farm in 1948, he didn’t know that he would spend the next twelve years of his life there—or that his remarkable stay would never leave him, no matter how far he traveled.   The farm in Lost Nation Hollow would become a magical place for Austen, full of eccentric people—like his stubborn but loving grandparents, whose marriage was known as the Forty Years War—wild adventures, and festering family secrets. An enchanting, startling coming-of-age novel, Northern Borders evokes a world of county fairs, heirloom quilts, and timber forests, in “a touching and unforgettable portrait of a people and time that are past” (Fannie Flagg, The New York Times Book Review).   “A contemporary classic . . . A complex, yet idyllic, story of childhood in Vermont.” —Los Angeles Times

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Coming Of Age, Historical, Literature, Adult Fiction

308 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Howard Frank Mosher was an American author. Over the course of his career, Mr. Mosher published 12 novels, two memoirs and countless essays and book reviews. In addition, his last work of fiction, points North will be published by St. Martin's press in the winter of 2018.

Mosher was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1979. A Stranger In the Kingdom won the New England Book Award for Fiction in 1991, and was later filmed by director Jay Craven. In 2006, Mosher received the Vermont Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 2011 he was awarded the New England Independent Booksellers Association's President's Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books. If you start this book and think that it's just a collection of short stories woven together, well, it is, but keep reading. It's more. The writing is beautiful without falling into the sometime tediousness of constant poetry, which lets the tales that make up the book shine. It doesn't tell me things I already know and lets me figure out how I feel about the people for myself. I love the way that things get brought to completion and I don't feel hung out to dry by the ending -- not everything is sweetness and light, but it is warm and good.

Having experienced Vermont in a very rustic way, having experience with a one-room school, living next door to characters not too unlike those described, this book really resonates with a truth that perhaps those who don't have a similar background can appreciate. Sure, things are made up and stretched, but there is more reality here than perhaps some realize. This book makes me want do more with my life and less at the same time. It makes me want to appreciate the good in all people. It makes me want to get back to the past, but only to live for the future. It made me cry.

[Phyllis Runyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first book by Howard Frank Mosher and I loved it. It's about six year old Austen who goes to live with his grandparents in Northern Vermont not far from the Canadian border. Everything about this book, the 1950's, the farm, the remote area, the school, all the different characters and his extended family, come together to make this a great read.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story begins in the summer of 1948 with six-year old Austin Kittredge sent by his widowed father to live with his grandparents at the Kittredge family farm, Lost Nation Hollow, Vermont just a few miles south of the Canadian border. His grandparents are disagreeable and contentious toward each other, yet provide a welcoming and protected home for the boy. The grandparents' marriage is known locally as the 'Forty Years' War.' When their domestic relations with each other reach another frequent impasse, one or both retire to their respective safe domains; grandmother to her 'Egypt' room and grandfather to his 'Labrador' hunting lodge. Despite their frequent feuds, Austin thrives in the rural setting. Summer turns to fall and he stays to attend the local one-room school. [return][return]The novel is written in the manner of an adult looking back at a more simple and unspoiled time in their life. This coming-of-age story follows Austin for the next dozen years. Memorable family members and community neighbors are involved in working, hunting, fishing, and other adventures and events. Sometimes outrageous happenings are made believable; an elephant comes to live its final years on the farm. The extended Kittredge family gathers for an annual family reunion and its Shakespeare play each summer. The farm, Kingdom County, and his grandparents are the 'center of everything' for Austin's childhood years. [return][return]The author, Howard Frank Mosher, skillfully develops humorous yet believable characters. Two elderly cousins, brothers as different as night and day yet linked by family loyalty - - one a part-time Methodist minister and the other a moonshiner, poacher, and long-time blasphemer. An aunt returns for a summer visit and brings with her a Western influence and the reminder that her previous departure was linked to her suspected involvement with a local bank robbery. Years pass, Austin matures and the story evolves to an unexpected conclusion. [return][return]I'm drawn to Mosher's writings because he knows rural and outdoor life. He is adept at integrating beautiful landscape descriptions with characters and events that typify the northeast country near the Canadian border. Highly recommend his work. (lj)

[Leslie Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one. It was a book that you read slowly, not the "can't put it down" kind, but it was beautiful and unpredictable. Interesting characters, great scenery descriptions, lovely writing. I will be checking out more by this author.

[Nicolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This extraordinarily beautiful book surprised me, as I wasn't expecting to fall in love with it. I slowed down so I could savor the pages, the characters, the memorable scenes piling onto each other. I didn't want it to end. It has reshaped my feelings about Northern Vermont -- Northeast Kingdom -- forever. Thank you to Howard Frank Mosher for this gift to readers.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truly 3.5 stars as many of my choices are in between. Time for Goodreads to update and add half stars. This is my fifth installment of the Mosher series of Kinneson and Kittredge tales, and nearly rose to four-star status but for the lag in the last fourth of the book. Reverent as always in his portrayal of the great white North (the Vermont-Canadian border and the "folk" who abide the realm), the story follows the coming of age of Austen, son of a widower and namesake of his grandfather, a misanthrope to his own family. At the age of 6, Austen bonds with Gramp and his rural surroundings simultaneously. He endures a tempestuous relationship between his grandfather and his grandmother who are more like a wedded Hatfield and McCoy than a loving pair. Young Austen's life unfurls amid the pages with tale after tale recounting his rites of passage between the White and Green Mountains of the Northeast. A surly schoolteacher in a one-room school house, a fowl-stealing predator, an improbably placed fossil, and a foray into the crooked world of carnies give Mosher's yarn his typical legendary air. Yet, never too outrageous as to render a heavily sighed, "What if?" blasphemous. It ended as things come to pass, as things do, and struck a solitary feeling of loneliness deep within me. This is precisely why I love his stories despite similar settings and writing styles. I always come away feeling nostalgic for a time I never lived and I place I never visited. Such magic with words.

[Dominica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simply superb novel that creates unforgettable characters drawn in stark relief against an equally unforgettable landscape—that of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, and, in the latter part of the book, the remote, unmapped parts of Labrador's "Great Corner."

I had the same feeling reading Northern Borders that I had when I first discovered Sinclair Lewis' novels. Both writers know the landscapes of their writing so intimately, and with such loving attention to detail, that I cannot help but feel that there will never be another writer who captures the feel of a midwestern small town (Lewis) or that of a small Vermont town (Mosher).

Both writers capture with vivid eloquence the powerful yearning for escape from these small town boundaries—and both create a sense of the sheer inexorability of the ties that bind a series of strong, romantic men and women like iron to their communities, and the tragedies that inevitably ensue when they attempt to escape. For Lewis, these escapes often come full circle—after grappling with the smallness of their fates, his characters return home, sadder, wiser, resigned.

For Mosher, there is no such capitulation. In Northern Borders, his gloriously rich canvas of eccentrics all manage to pull off some kind of escape or other—and in spectacular style, whether it is turning the imagined Labrador into the trip of a lifetime that nearly takes the lives of grandfather and son, to extraordinary burials in the family plot for the hardworn women of the family—only one of whom manages to escape for good from the hardscrabble subsistence living that characterized northern Vermont life in the 1950s.

[Linda Spear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why do I always seem to "discover" great authors only to find out they have died???? Anyway, I will be reading all of Mosher's books, but I have a feeling this is the one I will love most. Mosher himself lived in the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont where this story takes place. Can't help but think it is based somewhat on the people he has known in that area. It's an idyllic but not sappy coming of age tale, beginning when Austen Kittredge is 6 years old and goes to spend the summer with his grandparents (who seldom speak to each other) and stays for 12 years. Not that his father does not play a part also; it's just that his wife has died and he has a very intense job as headmaster of a school. In fact, the whole family is in the picture at one time or another. As indicated from my rating, I really loved this book. His writing is amazing, evicting a sense of place as well as strong characters. Can't praise this book enough.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a time-travel experience, taking readers back to northern Vermont in the late '40s. At the age of 6, our narrator was sent by his widowed father to live with his grandparents on the border of Canada and Vermont. Filled with eccentric relatives and a bucolic setting, Mosher's novel was a delightfully relaxing read.

[Ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the absolute best coming of age stories I've ever read! And that's coming from someone who's found basically every book I've ever read about a young man finding his way in the world/wilderness to be a snooze fest. Hilariously honest, generous & surprising - a story you slip into and hope won't end...

[Charlotte Tressler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw the movie Northern Borders last year and it made me want to read the book, primarily because I wanted to see if the grandfather, played by Bruce Dern, was as thoroughly unlikeable in print as he was onscreen. The answer is no. The movie took all of the character's harshness and cynicism and held back all of his underlying tenderness and humanity until the very last moment, when it was almost too late to redeem himself.

The book is not so much a novel as a collection of interrelated short stories, all told from the adult perspective of Austen Kittredge III, who is packed off at the age of six to live with his grandparents in the remote community of Lost Nation, Vermont in 1948. The stories follow Austen through the summer after he graduates from high school, touching on aspects of rural life such as one-room schoolhouses, logging, tapping maple trees for syrup, contending with predators, and the Forty-Years-War around which his eccentric grandparents have built their marriage.

So much of the book's content got left out of the movie. I would like to see a small-screen version formatted as a limited series. The freestanding form of the chapters would lend itself to the medium very well.

I enjoyed this book and plan to read more of Mosher's work in the future.

[Becky Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quiet, well-written set of vignettes set up as a fictional memoir. Paints a good picture of an uncommon setting, far-northern rural Vermont in the 1950’s, but ultimately I don’t think the stories will stay with me for long.

[Sunny Shore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave it a 4 because it was a wonderful book written a little bit like Kent Haruf and Wallace Stegner. At least it seemed that way, altho their books have midwestern and western backgrounds and this was Vermont. It was actually not my type of book, but it was a book I respected and learned from. The writing and characterization were top-notch. Perhaps, I was a bit bored at times with the chapters...some chapters....and then others really took me by surprised and delighted me. A 6 year old boy in the late '40's goes to live with his grandparents in a very rural area of Vermont near the Canadian border, after his mother dies. His dad remains in his life and visits. At times, I thought why would his father place him with this crotchety grandfather in a place with no electricity. But then as the story enfolds, I understand why the father would know it was in his best interest to be with his grandma and grandpa. They are complex characters and this book is multi-dimensional on many levels. Many ways to perceive it. I think it would be a different experience for everyone. Also, the chapters are like short stories; each could stand alone if it had to, altho the author might disagree with me. Not everyone will like this but many who have read it have absolutely loved it and it got high marks altho few read it. Try it and be one of those adventurous people to read Northern Borders and see what interesting things you might cull from it.

[Kathleen Crimm · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful. best i’ve read this year. do not read overmuch into this, but could not but think of reepicheep.

[Doreen Fritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE Howard Frank Mosher. A few years ago I read (at the encouragement of my baseball-loving son-in-law) "Waiting for Teddy Williams" and agreed with Dave that this was one of the best baseball books I'd ever read. Not only were the descriptions of baseball (pitching, stategy, love-of-the-game) picture-perfect, but the characters were also drawn with a box-full of color pencils. Deep and varied, real and yet somehow tinged with an aura of historical sentimentality. This book, "Northern Borders," continues in the same vein, and imitates the setting of "Teddy Williams": northern and rural Vermont. The central character is once again a small boy, Austen Kittredge, who at age 6 goes to live with his paternal grandparents so that he can attend the small country school. (Apparently there was an old agreement with the state university to allow all graduates from this country school a tuition-free admission.) Austen's mother is dead, and his father is a "schoolteacher" -- which is scorned and ridiculed by Austen's grandfather. In fact, this grandfather -- also named Austen Kittredge -- is a crotchety old man, self-named "the meanest bastard in Lost Nation". Austen's grandparents are engaged in a "Forty Years War," the battles of which provide some of the most amusing episodes in this novel. The story has been compared to "Cold Sassy Tree," and I would also add "Fried Green Tomatoes," as it portrays a time gone by, it explores the tangled relationships of family and community, and it tells a series of adventure stories. The county fair. The elephant. The somewhat abusive schoolteacher who is hired merely to keep order, not to teach -- in fact, it's unclear whether she even knows how to read. The court case when Grandma sued Grandpa to keep him from flooding her apple orchard by re-routing the river to unblock a log jam. Each chapter provided another absorbing short story that was both exciting and nostalgic, leading up to the culminating adventure: the post-high school canoe/camping trip through Labrador that Grandpa and Austen shared. I am anxious to pick up another Mosher book. I love the warm fuzzies feelings that his books evoke, combined with exciting adventure and fun.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, so redolent of Vermont and a certain type of life, is my favorite piece by my favorite Vermont writer, Irasburg resident Howard Frank Mosher. The book tells the story of a young boy whose widowed father sends him to live with his grandparents in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. It’s a bit less well-known than Mosher’s A Stranger In The Kingdom, but it’s a far less by-the-numbers narrative.

The book contains a near-culmination of a thread that has been woven through all of Mosher’s works: the recognized beauty of the pastoral world, minus the romanticism typical to such portrayals.

The sadness of that pastoral world’s passing is depicted without melancholy; the character Austen Kittredge is too much his own, too self-possessed to waste time with ‘emotion recollected in tranquility,’ as Wordsworth and the other romantics did. Whereas in Wordsworth’s long poem "Michael" a father makes a covenant with his prodigal son in the form of a stone sheepfold, Austen Kittredge makes a covenant with his grandson from a canoe ride in the wilds of Labrador. The difference -- an abstraction of the imagination forced on an immobile thing of permanence versus an immediate and yet evanescent adventure -- is emblematic of Mosher’s work. He constantly tweaks readers’ preconceived notions of what rural life and those who live it are really about.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a reread.....I was assigned this originally back in high school.

Northern Borders is told by Austen "Tut" Kittredge III, telling the tale of his childhood in the Northeast Kingdom of VT, specifically in the fictional town of Kingdom County. From the age of 6 until 18, Tut lived there with his grandparents (with various appearances of extended family and his father) in the 1940's and 50's. This is a beautiful look at rural Vermont at that time period, when farms and the old way of life were changing. It's also a look at the quirky, stubborn and independent people that inhabit the state, reminding me a lot of some of the "old codgers" I knew (or knew of) growing up. Mosher's writing is and was beautiful, transportive, hilarious......and sometimes, heartbreaking.
As someone who was also very close to grandparent's growing up.....it hit close to home. And the last few beautiful lines just broke me into pieces.

[Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is simply, yet beautifully written. A coming of age story, yes, but with rich characters and seemingly simple relationships that at times are quite complex. I'm always a sucker for books about our grandparents and great-grandparents' generations, especially wonderful stories from the heart. It takes place between the 1940's and 1980's in upstate Vermont. A location I am not familiar with, yet I felt as if at times I was part of the scenery as it was so masterfully written.

This is one of probably a handful of books that I feel I could actually go back and read a second or third time, simply because I liked the stories so much. I have a feeling this will be one of those books that years down the line, I will remember an odd detail from or subconsciously reference to myself now and then and smile.

[Janet C-B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story set in rural Vermont, near the Canadian border, in the 1950's & 1960's. The main character is Austin Kitteridge, a 6 yr old boy, who goes to live with his grandparents on their farm after his mother dies. The farm, Lost Nation Hollow, is aptly named, because it is the the family farm that is very isolated from mainstream America during that time frame. The boy, Austin, has very eccentric grandparents and extended family, yet he thrives in Lost Nation Hollow.

This is a book that I read slowly, one chapter at a time. It is filled with vivid descriptions of the people and the setting. Each chapter could be considered a story by itself, but all chapters are linked and lead slowly to the final chapter. The final chapter, unlike the rest of the book, is fast-paced, adventurous and leads to a satisfying conclusion. I rate the book 4 stars.

[Gregg · Rating 5 out of 5]

After I had read Mosher's Walking to Gatlinburg I had to read everything else our library had by him -- it was that good. I missed this one the first time around, but it might be the best one of all. It's written as a series of vignettes taking place during the years a young Austen Kittredge spends on his grandparents' farm in northern Vermont. Those who have read Mosher's books will know that despite the well-drawn characters, Vermont really is the main one, and a fabulous one it is.

On finishing this book I thought to myself, that was as good as A River Runs Through It, which is high praise indeed.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’ve not read anything by Mr. Mosher, you are in for a treat. He is a wonderful storyteller and this novel takes you back to experience what it was like to grow up on a farm in Vermont during the 40’s and 50’s. The beauty and harshness of rural life, the relationships that these beautifully drawn characters have with each other and the land grace this work with a quiet intensity.

[Aislinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, BUT it could have ended around page 150-175. It literally is a narrative of this kids WHOLE LIFE growing up in the kingdom. At some point, the story needs a different stimulus than just aging. It needs something cohesive to continue to keep your attention. The last half if this book was difficult to read because of that lake of a common stimulus.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never heard of this author, picked it up on a whim. Could not have loved it more. Perhaps it was just that I love a good story of farm life in New England in the 40s - and who knew I loved that? But I think it is more because the grandparents were each awesome in their own way and the whole thing reminded me of visiting my own grandparents every summer, feuds and all.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the book. Coming of age story about a boy who lived with his eccentric grandparents on an isolated farm just south of the Canadian boarder. He learns about his family history dating back 5 or 6 generations. Learns lots of life lessons from his grandparents and aunts and uncles. A bit strange that his father chose to leave him there for his whole boyhood.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not too bad a coming of age story set in far northern Vermont in the 1950s(?) In what would almost work as a collection of short stories, Mosher develops his characters well -- a wholesome kid, a quirky grandmother and grumpy grandfather.

[Mary Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard Frank Mosher is a treasure. I love to revisit favorite books from time to time and his work is particularly rewarding in this regard. This is my second reading of the book and I am absorbing new and fascinating details. He is one of America's best writers.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the story was vivid and beautifully described, I didn’t feel like the plot was leading me but was rather hopping to and from memories. It made the book easy to set down as opposed to completely engaging for me.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautifully visual story. Definitely on my "favorites" list!

[Norma Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the reminiscing of Austen Kittredge III’s life journey as the son of a widower who is sent to his grandparents’ farm “Lost Nation Hollow,” Kingdom County, Vermont near the Canadian Border—hence the name of the book “Northern Borders,” as it is known in that area. The story begins there in 1948 as six-year-old Austin (aka “Tut”) moves in with the Kittredges. They have 3 other children besides Austin II. While they have their differences with each other, they both love Tot and teach him their wisdom and knowledge.

The senior Kittredges’ marriage, known locally as “The Forty Years’ War,” has over the years had them each build their place of retreat when things get out of control. Grandma has her Egypt room in the house while Grandpa’s is a separate building, the Labrador Hunting Lodge. In spite of their bickering to the end, they have a rich life of work, fishing, hunting, gardening and enjoyments such as books, a family reunion with another cast of characters, the Shakespeare festival and a carnival each year. Such is life until Tut graduates from High School.

Howard Frank Mosher, in his most autobiographical work of fiction, has produced a rich and cozy return to America of old in a land far different from that which most of us have experienced. This was a treasure and pleasure to read. Highly recommended.

NOTE: There is a film to bring the book to life by the same name with Bruce Dern (Grandpa), Genevieve Bujold (Grandma) and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick (Tut). See it here: https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Borde...

[David Schwinghammer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Northern Vermont’s Kingdom County is the setting for Austen Kittridge’s nostalgic account of his childhood living with his grandparents.

Both of them are so real you’d swear this was a memoir. Grandpa was an orphan found on a doorstep, but gossip suggests that he may have been the illegitimate child of Austin’s great aunt. Grandma was also an orphan who emigrated from England with her little sister where she took low paying jobs until she and her sister came across the Vermont sawmill where she would ultimately live. Grandpa was one of the loggers; she saw him ride by on a log, tipping his hat to her.

Grandma was a strong woman who did not suffer fools gladly, but she had this love affair with Egypt, so much so that she named Austin “Tut” after the Egyptian pharoah. Her greatest wish for Auston was that he would grow up to be an archeologist like Howard Carter who discovered King Tut’s burial chamber.

Grandpa was in love with the wilderness of northern Labrador; he and Austin went on a harrowing canoe trip during which they dodged wild fires and blizzards before reaching Grandpa’s destination, Mira’s grave. Mira was an Indian girl who died during child birth; she was the love of Grandpa’s life, which may have been the reason Grandma and Grandpa merely tolerated each other. Grandpa wanted to move Mira’s bones because the government was building a dam that would flood the area. Austin would return from the harrowing trip; Grandpa would stay another ten years before his death.

During their canoe trip Austin and Grandpa sound more like friends than kin. Austin has won Grandpa’s respect as a fellow “sashayer” as Grandma offered called Grandpa.