This Vale of Tears (Paperback) | Released: 19 Oct 2021

From the author of Far Beyond the Pale, I'll Still Be Here Long After You're Gone: Stories, and The Black Harvest: A Novel of the American Civil War, comes a story of a sprawling cast of incorrigible and sometimes violent characters, each bent on their own quest to uncover meaning and find a place in the world. In a rave review HuffPost hailed Pale, "Visceral, authentic southern language flows throughout the starkly honest prose, performing a brutal, violent dance that is all at once hard to watch, yet impossible to turn away from." Of The Black Harvest, Kirkus Reviews said, "Dean's writing also offers a striking brew of poetry and punch, combining unflinching realism with delicately woven imagery."
This Vale of Tears paints a searing picture, a clash of the gothic themes of good and evil, in the lives of rural people in the Show Me state. We follow the intertwined lives of Walker Scofield, a man who wonders where he went wrong with his children and grandchildren as his tenuous grip on reality begins to slip; Merle Scofield, Troy's father, an alcoholic, who hopes to find the strength to unite his family; Troy Scofield, haunted by the memory of his mother (a former soap star) who walked out on the family when he was a boy and is determined to confront his wife's lover; Alisha Scofield, Troy's insatiable wife tosses him aside for the arms of another man only to discover she wants him back; Glenny Scofield, a truant who steals a baby in a jar of formaldehyde from the local college museum leading to his transformation as The Boy of God; Theron Beecher, an old man who sometimes hears the voices of the dead imploring him to care for the embattled Scofields; Ruby Phelps, a fierce matriarch determined to exact her revenge on the Scofields; Cyrus Phelps, a sometimes bail bondsman and dog breeder and the brute instrument of Ruby's retribution; Raelyn Phelps, a young woman who finds the strength to escape her family's overbearing confines and follow her heart's own song.
When Troy and Raelyn meet, they form an instant bond that will lead them on a cross country trip through the south to New Orleans in an effort to escape the strangling family ties of the past in the dark heart of the Little Dixie.

"Daren Dean's spectacular, distinct writing in This Vale of Tears brings us into the vivid and memorable worlds of the Scofield and Phelps families. This is a beautiful and affecting novel, and Daren Dean is a unique and powerful storyteller of the American South."
-Karen Bender, National Book Award Finalist and author of Refund, Like Normal People, The New Order, and others

"Dean introduces us to an ensemble of unforgettable characters who hunger for love and vengeance and whose lives are haunted by the places their hearts and guts land them in. From the opening scene, Dean grabs us by the lapels and won't let go. In language that shines with lyricism, grit, and wit, he makes us know the Scofields and Phelpses and feel their hard and troubled lives."
-Randolph Thomas, author of Dispensations

"The sentences in Daren Dean's This Vale of Tears bury themselves under your nails and tangle your hair like a dirty southern breeze. If you're reading this blurb, you're wasting valuable time. Daren Dean is a compelling new voice in American fiction."
-Chris Tusa, author of Dirty Little Angels and In the City of Falling Stars