Woe to Live On

A young man witnesses the unrestrained violence of the Civil War along the American frontier in this novel from the author of Winter’s Bone.

“A renegade Western that celebrates the genre while bushwhacking its most cherished traditions.” —Chicago Tribune

While armies in the East clash in the great battles of the American Civil War, bands of men seek their own fierce retribution in the heartland.

Set in the border states of Kansas and Missouri, Woe to Live On explores the nature of lawlessness and violence, friendship and loyalty, through the eyes of young recruit Jake Roedel. Where he and his fellow First Kansas Irregulars go, no one is safe, no one can be neutral. Roedel grows up fast, experiencing a brutal parody of war, without standards or mercy. But as friends fall and families flee, he questions his loyalties and becomes an outsider even to those who have become outlaws.

“Woodrell pins it down just right. . . . Woe to Live On speaks to the universal cruelty of civil war.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Daniel Woodrell has certainly found the voices, the cadences, the feelings of the chaotic time and place he depicts, carrying it along with a rich dialogue that is exactly right.” —Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

“Woodrell is a born writer. His style both brutal and touched with poetry. And it’s very much his own. Don’t miss it.” —Philadelphia Inquirer

“Woodrell shows a strong talent for pared-down, dark-edged storytelling—especially in fitfully compelling, atmospheric, violent setpieces.” —Kirkus Reviews