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The Green Age of Asher Witherow
Supplying a quarter of San Francisco's coal, Nortonville of the 1860s-70s is a flourishing empire in small, seeming to promise unending prosperity and a better future. But beneath the vibrant work ethic of its Welch citizens lies an insidious network of superstitions.
A missing boy first brings these dark undercurrents to light. Then young Asher Witherow falls under the spell of an unorthodox apprentice minister, stirring a whirlpool of suspicion and outrage. Soon Asher finds himself trapped in a nightmarish crucible, all the more excruciating because he himself could end it if he could only find the strength of will. This is a lesson the missing boy has taught him, and what he understands instinctively from the alluring Anna Flood, new to Nortonville, who with her raw sensuality and independence seems to offer some hope of redemption or even escape.
In this powerful debut from a young writer of stunning talent, M. Allen Cunningham takes us into a time and place at once gritty and magical, when the future seems filled with promise but where the day's labor is bone breaking, numbing and always dangerous.
Gorgeously written, historically authentic, The Green Age of Asher Witherow is a novel of tested loyalties, of condemnation and redemption. The characters' deep emotional lives are complex and vivid, fluctuating from the doomed to the transcendent. As he unpacks his heart, Asher comes to realize that all his early traumas have somehow bonded him to the land surrounding Mount Diablo and infused his life with an inward wealth--a treasure at which we can only wonder.
A missing boy first brings these dark undercurrents to light. Then young Asher Witherow falls under the spell of an unorthodox apprentice minister, stirring a whirlpool of suspicion and outrage. Soon Asher finds himself trapped in a nightmarish crucible, all the more excruciating because he himself could end it if he could only find the strength of will. This is a lesson the missing boy has taught him, and what he understands instinctively from the alluring Anna Flood, new to Nortonville, who with her raw sensuality and independence seems to offer some hope of redemption or even escape.
In this powerful debut from a young writer of stunning talent, M. Allen Cunningham takes us into a time and place at once gritty and magical, when the future seems filled with promise but where the day's labor is bone breaking, numbing and always dangerous.
Gorgeously written, historically authentic, The Green Age of Asher Witherow is a novel of tested loyalties, of condemnation and redemption. The characters' deep emotional lives are complex and vivid, fluctuating from the doomed to the transcendent. As he unpacks his heart, Asher comes to realize that all his early traumas have somehow bonded him to the land surrounding Mount Diablo and infused his life with an inward wealth--a treasure at which we can only wonder.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2004
5 people are currently reading
306 people want to read
About the author
M. Allen Cunningham
20 books42 followersM. Allen Cunningham published his debut novel The Green Age of Asher Witherow at age 26. Set in nineteenth-century Northern California, The Green Age served as the inaugural title for independent publisher Unbridled Books, was widely acclaimed, was selected by the American Booksellers Association as a #1 Indie Next Pick, was a Finalist for the Indie Next Book of the Year Award in a shortlist with Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, and Joyce Carol Oates' The Falls, was named a “Best Book of the West” in the Salt Lake Tribune, was a USA Today Novel to Watch, and was dubbed a "Regional Classic" by the Mountain & Plains Booksellers Association. Foreword Reviews praised The Green Age as "a feat reminiscent of William Styron's Lie Down in Darkness," and later called Cunningham "one of America's most promising voices." Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler called the novel "a startling accomplishment," and Booklist said it "displays a mastery that is surprising in a novelistic debut." The Green Age was published in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland by Atrium Verlag. Audible released an audio edition in 2014.
Three years after his debut, Cunningham released Lost Son (Unbridled Books), an experimental biographical novel about Rainer Maria Rilke which was the culmination of more than 10 years of reading, writing, research, and travel. Ihab Hassan, one of the 20th century's most distinguished critics, said "the magic of Rilke reach[es] out from every page," and called Lost Son "a subtle and signal imaginative achievement, putting readers on notice: an extraordinary talent has come upon the scene." Lost Son was added to the official Rilke bibliography by a consortium of European scholars. Cunningham was interviewed at length alongside Russell Banks, Michael Cunningham, Anita Diamant, Ron Hansen, Joyce Carol Oates, and Jay Parini for the book Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists (Bloomsbury, 2014, ed. Michael Lackey). Lost Son receives in-depth consideration in scholar Zivile Gimbutas' study of 20th-century artist novels entitled Artistic Individuality, where it is featured beside the work of authors Willa Cather, James Joyce, John Updike, and Virginia Woolf. Lost Son was listed as a Top 10 Book of 2007 in The Oregonian, and reviewer Vernon Peterson said "Cunningham's writing is beautiful and fluid. I found myself torn, lingering over passages and yet eager to rush on...But I'm not sure it's right to see Lost Son simply as a fictional biography of Rilke. It is also Cunningham's spiritual autobiography, his own fierce identification with the poet's commitment to art...mesmerizing."
Cunningham has subsequently published six other books, including the novel Perpetua's Kin (2018), a multi-generational story about American restlessness and the residual effects of war that spans most of North America over more than a century. "With Perpetua's Kin," says Pulitzer Prize Finalist Eowyn Ivey, "M. Allen Cunningham once again demonstrates he is one of the bravest and most talented novelists writing today. With each page we gain the greatest gift of fiction: an insight into our own trembling humanity."
Cunningham's shorter work has appeared widely in distinguished literary journals and magazines, and his new book Q&A will appear from Regal House Publishing in January 2021.
He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Portland State University, an instructor for Clackamas Community College, teaches advanced creative writing for UC Berkeley's ATDP, and has served as a guest lecturer and thesis advisor in the Pan-European MFA Program.
Cunningham hosts the weekly creativity podcast In the Atelier and the atmospheric Thoreau's Leaves
Three years after his debut, Cunningham released Lost Son (Unbridled Books), an experimental biographical novel about Rainer Maria Rilke which was the culmination of more than 10 years of reading, writing, research, and travel. Ihab Hassan, one of the 20th century's most distinguished critics, said "the magic of Rilke reach[es] out from every page," and called Lost Son "a subtle and signal imaginative achievement, putting readers on notice: an extraordinary talent has come upon the scene." Lost Son was added to the official Rilke bibliography by a consortium of European scholars. Cunningham was interviewed at length alongside Russell Banks, Michael Cunningham, Anita Diamant, Ron Hansen, Joyce Carol Oates, and Jay Parini for the book Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists (Bloomsbury, 2014, ed. Michael Lackey). Lost Son receives in-depth consideration in scholar Zivile Gimbutas' study of 20th-century artist novels entitled Artistic Individuality, where it is featured beside the work of authors Willa Cather, James Joyce, John Updike, and Virginia Woolf. Lost Son was listed as a Top 10 Book of 2007 in The Oregonian, and reviewer Vernon Peterson said "Cunningham's writing is beautiful and fluid. I found myself torn, lingering over passages and yet eager to rush on...But I'm not sure it's right to see Lost Son simply as a fictional biography of Rilke. It is also Cunningham's spiritual autobiography, his own fierce identification with the poet's commitment to art...mesmerizing."
Cunningham has subsequently published six other books, including the novel Perpetua's Kin (2018), a multi-generational story about American restlessness and the residual effects of war that spans most of North America over more than a century. "With Perpetua's Kin," says Pulitzer Prize Finalist Eowyn Ivey, "M. Allen Cunningham once again demonstrates he is one of the bravest and most talented novelists writing today. With each page we gain the greatest gift of fiction: an insight into our own trembling humanity."
Cunningham's shorter work has appeared widely in distinguished literary journals and magazines, and his new book Q&A will appear from Regal House Publishing in January 2021.
He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Portland State University, an instructor for Clackamas Community College, teaches advanced creative writing for UC Berkeley's ATDP, and has served as a guest lecturer and thesis advisor in the Pan-European MFA Program.
Cunningham hosts the weekly creativity podcast In the Atelier and the atmospheric Thoreau's Leaves
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
June 11, 2019
This novel involved my heart. You see, I used to visit the Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve when I lived in a town nearby, and I was drawn to that area again and again as there's something magical and mysterious about it. You walk in and see the remnants of old coal and sand mining activities. There's the Rose Hill Cemetery off to the right, which is all that's left of five towns that used to be in the area - that, and the mines. One day my children and I walked to the top of Rose Hill for a beautiful view of the towns beyond (Antioch and Pittsburg) and the Sacramento River, a few miles upstream from where it empties itself out into the San Pablo Bay.
Consequently this book about a boy growing up in Nortonville, one of the five curiously vanished towns, has been on my mental TBR list ever since I first heard of it. Imagine that... a novel written about one of the places I hold most dear out of all my memories! Of course I was someday going to read it - and that came to pass in 2019. Fortunately an audiobook version, created in 2014, made this a pleasure for me. I enjoyed listening to the Welsh accent of the reader. Very precious touch for a heart rending story!
This novel about the formative years of a boy/teen/young man traversed from tragedy to tragedy. If it was set anywhere else I might question the number of terrible tragedies our young character endured. But I've been there - and I know the area was home to many, many tragedies and many families struggling against the sadness that such horrible, unexpected deaths can bring. Perhaps that's what leaves Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve with a heart-touching magnetic feeling of empathy although the homes of former residents have all completely disappeared. The spirits remain. Only the wooden structures have gone.
I read this book for the 2019 PopSugar Reading Challenge, prompt #2: A book that makes you nostalgic. I couldn't have chosen a better book for completing this prompt. I appreciated that the story of well-known resident Sarah Norton, the midwife, was included in this book. The author obviously did a lot of deep and meticulous research to make this story true to life.
Way back then, when I lived in the area, I read an article in a library book that warned people not to stand on Sarah Norton's grave in the Rose Hill Cemetery because one's foot or leg could be injured. Sure enough, my wild daughter who must have been about 9 or 10 at the time had to try it. And sure enough, close to that time she got a foot injury. (Not a bad one, but still . . . ) so if you go to Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve and let yourself in the gate to look at the graves, you would do yourself a favor to stay off Sarah Norton's grave. Unfortunately a lot of the other graves are no longer marked so you're likely to step on someone's grave... but stay off that one, at least.
Consequently this book about a boy growing up in Nortonville, one of the five curiously vanished towns, has been on my mental TBR list ever since I first heard of it. Imagine that... a novel written about one of the places I hold most dear out of all my memories! Of course I was someday going to read it - and that came to pass in 2019. Fortunately an audiobook version, created in 2014, made this a pleasure for me. I enjoyed listening to the Welsh accent of the reader. Very precious touch for a heart rending story!
This novel about the formative years of a boy/teen/young man traversed from tragedy to tragedy. If it was set anywhere else I might question the number of terrible tragedies our young character endured. But I've been there - and I know the area was home to many, many tragedies and many families struggling against the sadness that such horrible, unexpected deaths can bring. Perhaps that's what leaves Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve with a heart-touching magnetic feeling of empathy although the homes of former residents have all completely disappeared. The spirits remain. Only the wooden structures have gone.
I read this book for the 2019 PopSugar Reading Challenge, prompt #2: A book that makes you nostalgic. I couldn't have chosen a better book for completing this prompt. I appreciated that the story of well-known resident Sarah Norton, the midwife, was included in this book. The author obviously did a lot of deep and meticulous research to make this story true to life.
Way back then, when I lived in the area, I read an article in a library book that warned people not to stand on Sarah Norton's grave in the Rose Hill Cemetery because one's foot or leg could be injured. Sure enough, my wild daughter who must have been about 9 or 10 at the time had to try it. And sure enough, close to that time she got a foot injury. (Not a bad one, but still . . . ) so if you go to Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve and let yourself in the gate to look at the graves, you would do yourself a favor to stay off Sarah Norton's grave. Unfortunately a lot of the other graves are no longer marked so you're likely to step on someone's grave... but stay off that one, at least.
February 16, 2015
About half way through this book, I said to the spouse that I couldn't imagine what the author could do to earn less than a 5-star review. Then I got to the ending and knew. The book is a coming-of-age story about the title character, a boy who grows up in a mid-19th century coal town. Although the book's plot was slow to get off the ground, I found it compelling nonetheless because the protagonist is likable, the narrator hints at Big Things coming, and the author's use of language is just amazing. It is chocked full of metaphor delightful to read. The atmosphere evoked by the book is rich and haunting. The language itself makes the book a pleasure to read. Furthermore, it is a nice change to read a slow-starter to be reminded of what can be achieved when an author takes his time to set a mood, and how much that enhances the story. Because when the story finally took off, the set-up became worth it. I audibly gasped at the first plot point, and from there I was hooked, compelled to watch a collision between one of the characters and the townsfolk of Nortonville.
But when the climax came, it was kind of anticlimactic. The conflict of the book was resolved neatly, but in a way that did not provide a satisfying outlet for all the pent-up tension I felt. Furthermore, the end dragged on far longer than needed until I found myself muscling through to finish the book and move on. This is a 5-star book with a 2-star ending. It is worth reading, and the first three-quarters of the book is strong enough to still make it one of the better books I've read, but the ending was a disappointment.
But when the climax came, it was kind of anticlimactic. The conflict of the book was resolved neatly, but in a way that did not provide a satisfying outlet for all the pent-up tension I felt. Furthermore, the end dragged on far longer than needed until I found myself muscling through to finish the book and move on. This is a 5-star book with a 2-star ending. It is worth reading, and the first three-quarters of the book is strong enough to still make it one of the better books I've read, but the ending was a disappointment.
November 9, 2014
The Green Age of Asher Witherow is a dark coming-of-age story set in a California coal mining town in the late 1800's. While the author has much to say about god, humanity, and nature, this novel never really engaged me.
I think the author had quite a lot to say, and on some level his message may have been interesting, but I couldn't get past my image of this young author who comes off as trying a bit too hard. His long, wordy metaphors and deep thinking come off as a bit pretentious at times, at least to me. This coming from someone who loves gothic literature and long-winded descriptions. I never really got into the author's style, and that could be my fault. It just felt a bit jumbled.
It's a decent book, and I'm sure there are those who get much more out of it than I did. It just didn't grab me like other books that are similar, such as Wiley Cash's A Land More Kind Than Home. While it probably is worth more than 2 stars, I couldn't in good faith say "I liked it".
I think the author had quite a lot to say, and on some level his message may have been interesting, but I couldn't get past my image of this young author who comes off as trying a bit too hard. His long, wordy metaphors and deep thinking come off as a bit pretentious at times, at least to me. This coming from someone who loves gothic literature and long-winded descriptions. I never really got into the author's style, and that could be my fault. It just felt a bit jumbled.
It's a decent book, and I'm sure there are those who get much more out of it than I did. It just didn't grab me like other books that are similar, such as Wiley Cash's A Land More Kind Than Home. While it probably is worth more than 2 stars, I couldn't in good faith say "I liked it".
August 6, 2008
I enjoyed this book but not as much as I could have. It's a lonely little thing, "skeletal" as the author would say. Did I say it was thin? It is. It's a lonely, solitary waif of a book. The subject is worthy, even compelling. Here's what I think got in the way. First, I imagine the editor must have been like the Willem Defoe character in Mr. Bean. A cool fella in a turtleneck in an underlit room saying, "Less...less...less" until there was little left. Secondly, who do we blame for this gothic, hard western voice found in novels these days? Cormac McCarthy? Perhaps. Even he overdoes it now. I was pleased with the acknowledgments of Asher because I found that the author had a natural, interesting voice after all. Too bad it wasn't evident the narrative.
February 3, 2008
i enjoyed this book, especially (perhaps mostly?) because it's about the diablo valley in the 1800s... cool local connection. also i saw the author speak at the contra costa times book gala a few years ago. the storyline was very arresting, but cunningham's writing was a bit too flowery/elaborate for my taste. i found myself skimming over long descriptive sections because i just kinda wasn't totally buying the fancy descriptions.
August 3, 2008
I liked this book a lot, but it was not what I would call and "easy read." If you like coming of age reads and exploration of the spiritual and the nature of superstitions in a small town, you should like this.
This book has beautiful language and descriptive detail, is sad in many ways, but also life affirming in others.
This book has beautiful language and descriptive detail, is sad in many ways, but also life affirming in others.
February 2, 2009
Dark novel, full of metaphors to decipher: great bookclub discussion book. This fictional novel is set in the East Bay (in northern CA, near SF), and the setting is based on factual information about the coal mining that took place there, near Mt. Diablo, in the mid-to-late 1800's. The book was written by a young man native to the Mt. Diablo area.
September 4, 2012
Amazing first novel, written by a 26 year old but he tried too hard - using big complex descriptions and weaving unnecessary magic into this sad, dark coming of age story. Set in a mining town in California 1860 – 1870 Cunningham did a nice job of describing the rumor mill and how powerful ‘good’ Christian actions can be behind the scenes.
December 6, 2017
Onvan : The Green Age of Asher Witherow - Nevisande : M. Allen Cunningham - ISBN : 1932961135 - ISBN13 : 9781932961133 - Dar 288 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2004
March 20, 2022
Maybe 4.5 stars. This was strangely beautiful, a very interesting and compelling coming of age story set in an area not too far north of where I live (I can see Mt. Diablo from my home). I knew nothing about the mining or the mining towns and folk that are the basis of this book, and I found the "history" not only fascinating but moving, and the characters lovingly and intelligently crafted. The narrative kept me very interested, and I always enjoy the vague feeling of impending doom that a very good writer can create and nurture page by page. What keeps this from five stars in my view are the occasionally convoluted and entirely too clever descriptions and words that arise now and then. I don't mind and in fact enjoy learning new words and needing sometimes to work a bit through a passage; nevertheless, here I sometimes felt the author, plainly a very intelligent and gifted writer, might have been trying just a bit too hard. Overall, a wonderful, thought-provoking book that I believe will stay with me, and I already want to take the short drive to the locus and wander the area.
December 15, 2021
I'm a big M. A. Cunningham fan. It took some doing to get ahold of this early work but so worth it. The way Cunningham immerses his readers in both his characters and their world is stunning. He goes so far beyond the bookish research into a time and place that you can't help believing that was there experiencing it for himself in a previous life: its subtle smells, the feel of the earth under foot and between your fingers, the sounds emanating from the mines, the homes and the minds of their occupants. A remarkable, heartrending book by a remarkable writer.
January 4, 2022
A book of the Clayton CA area ~ 1840 when coal was extracted out of Diablo Valley ... genesis of the name for Black Diamond Brewery. Strange plot, disturbing images of young kids working in the mines.
November 5, 2017
Long winded and rambling. I skimmed the whole thing.
Want to read
September 14, 2025Recommended by Eowyn Ivey in the conversation with the author at the end of Snow Child.
June 20, 2023
Cunningham definitely has a gifted way with words. This book is paced similarly to some of Steinbeck’s longer novels, and I really enjoyed the language itself. He manages to infuse so much weight and meaning into this coming of age story. I’d definitely read another book by this author.
March 17, 2011
Boy growing up in coal-mining east bay town in late 1800s. Elements of the fantastic, undercurrents of evil in the town. The real evil is the hypocrisy of the townfolk. Tragedies happen, scaring people into further superstition and silent persecution of some of the people who are at the soul of the town. Eventually the soul dies as they all leave or die, coal production falls off and the mining company basically moves up to Washington.
It was okay, but not exceptional. A little too much hocus pocus for me, and without the smooth integration of the magical and superstition of marquez (but maybe that's what he was aiming for). Some out-of-place expositions (e.g. of the chinese workers), and too much "i can feel it in my bones" kind of crap. Entertaining though. And the thick paper, large spacing between print makes a novella publishable as a novel (cheap undergrad tricks!)
It was okay, but not exceptional. A little too much hocus pocus for me, and without the smooth integration of the magical and superstition of marquez (but maybe that's what he was aiming for). Some out-of-place expositions (e.g. of the chinese workers), and too much "i can feel it in my bones" kind of crap. Entertaining though. And the thick paper, large spacing between print makes a novella publishable as a novel (cheap undergrad tricks!)
Read
February 9, 2014I somehow stumbled upon one of the unedited early editions of the book - I don't know if there is much difference from my copy and what was officially released. I was distracted by other things going on in life so didn't immerse myself in the book as I like to do so I can't fairly review the book. It is well written, and I would say that it borders on the wordy at points throughout.
Takes place in 1800's coal mining town of Nortonville in California, near Mount Diablo. From the perspective of a young boy growing up there. There is a lot of sadness and loss, perhaps that was the reality of that life. A somber tone throughout.
Takes place in 1800's coal mining town of Nortonville in California, near Mount Diablo. From the perspective of a young boy growing up there. There is a lot of sadness and loss, perhaps that was the reality of that life. A somber tone throughout.
Want to read
November 28, 2007I lived quite near the Black Diamond mines (the setting for this story) so this makes the place far more fascination to me!
May 30, 2008
Very descriptive almost poetic writing that really draws you into the story.
May 17, 2009
bet thing was that it took place at black diamond mine in antioch in 1870's
August 7, 2010
I wasn't enjoying it as I read, due to the unreliable narrator. I liked it better after hearing what my book club had to say!
Want to read
June 11, 201125 cent download from Unbridled Books
April 13, 2012
The 4 star rating is not just for the written word, but for having lived in the area where the book is set...and also for an author presentation.
June 4, 2013
Beautiful language, but not always easy to follow. I understand why we only got a small portion of Asher's life given the title but I wanted to ow the rest of the story!
July 1, 2016
I loved reading a historical novel set in my own backyard but his writing is overly poetic, too flowery and the plot is thin. It was very hard for me to connect with this book.
June 12, 2011
Truly amazing first novel. Beautiful writing, haunting story.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews