Daniel Woodrell Books In Order

Publication Order of Rene Shade Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Akashic Noir Books

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Daniel Woodrell is one of the highly respected authors from America, who is well known for writing crime fiction, literature & fiction, and country noir novels. Altogether, he has written around 9 novels and a few short stories in his career so far. Most of the books that author Woodrell writes are set in Missouri Ozarks. In addition to the short stories and books, he has also written a short story collection. In order to give a description of the 1996 book called Give Us a Kiss, author Woodrell coined the words Country Noir. Since then, the critics have made use of the term to describe his writings on a frequent basis. Author Woodrell was born on March 4, 1953, in Springfield, Missouri, The United States. His birthplace is located in the state’s southwestern corner. Author Woodrell spent most of time as a child in Missouri. He did not complete his high school education and dropped to enroll himself in the Marines. After a few years, he started his study again and obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the Kansas University. Later, he also earned an MFA from the Writers’ Workshop of Iowa. The Missouri University in Kansas City awarded author Woodrell an honorary doctorate in the year 2016. As of today, author Woodrell resides in the West Plains, Missouri. He is married to a novelist named Katie Estill. As Woodrell is quite familiar with the landscapes in the Ozarks of Missouri right from his childhood days, he set most parts of all his novels in the region. He is mainly interested in creating stories about crime fiction, preferring to call them by the phrase of country noir. Lately, Woodrell’s works have started being commented with the same phrase. A couple of novels of author Woodrell have been adapted into movies.

Woodrell feels blessed that the movies based on his novels were able to gather a high number of audiences, just like the novels themselves. By this, he understands that he has really done a great job as an author. The second novel that he wrote in 1987 in his writing career, Woe to Live On, was chosen to be made into a film in 1999. Ang Lee was the director of the movie, which is known as Ride with the Devil. Also, his 2006 novel titled Winter’s Bone was made into a Hollywood movie with the same name by the director and writer Debra Granik. This movie was released worldwide, commercially in 2010 and it went on to win a couple of awards at the film festival of Sundance. One of the awards included the Grand Jury Award in the category of the best dramatic film. The film was labeled as an American classic and one among the best films released that year. The film was also nominated for a total of 4 Academy Awards, which also included Best Picture. This increased the popularity of the novel as well as that of author Woodrell as a writer. When author Woodrell was filming for a segment of a movie, he injured his shoulder very badly during an accident while boat fishing. Woodrell has won multiple awards throughout the course of the writing career. Some of them include highly prestigious ones such as the PEN Award, the New York Times prize, etc. Author Woodrell says that he was influenced to write his own books from some of the prominent personalities like Mark Twain, Ernest Hemmingway, Robert Louis Stevenson, James Agee, Knut Hamsun, Derek Wolco, John McGahern, Flannery O’Connor, Tillie Olsen, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, as well as a few others.

One of the initial books written by Daniel Woodrell is titled as ‘The Maid’s Version’. It was released by the Little Brown Company in 2013. Author Woodrell has set the plot of this book in West Table, Missouri, US, at the time of the year 1929. The main character that features in this story is Alma DeGeer Dunahew. At the beginning of the story, Alma Dunahew is introduced as the mother of 3 young boys. She is shown working as a maid for one of the prominent families in West Table. Alma’s husband remains away at all the times. Alma has a younger sister who is scandalous, but beloved to her. When her sister dies in the explosion that 41 others at a local hall, Alma Dunahew does not know whom to blame. The suspects in the explosion include St. Louis Monsters, local gypsies, and a local preacher. Later, Alma Dunahew arrives at a conclusion and thinks that the roots of the explosion lies in a love affair. And the more she tries to find the answer, the more she gets distant from her sons. Her pursuit of the justice makes Alma Dunahew an outlaw. She gains solace only by telling her grandson about the story. And Alma advices her grandson to keep telling the story to whomsoever he meets, as a means to provide for her sister’s soul. The book tells the story of the struggles, secrets, triumphs, and suspicions of the families.

One of the other popular books published by author Woodrell is entitled ‘The Death of Sweet Mister’. It was published by the Plume publication in 2002. The primary characters featuring in this novel include Shuggie Akins, Glenda, Jimmy Vin Pearce, etc. In the opening sequence of the novel, author Woodrell has introduced Shuggie Akins as a lonely and overweight 13 year old boy. He is highly shrewd in his observing abilities. In spite of this, he cannot comprehend about the forces who seem to conspire against him. Shuggie Akins has a mother in the form of Glenda, who is frequently tipsy and distracted. She does not care about the effects that her sexual and provocative teasings have on Shuggie Akins. He is also mocked and despised by his brutal father named Red. Shuggie’s father seems to be putative and has short fuse. This family of three resides in the ramshackle house located in a boneyard place in the Ozark town. At this point, Jimmy Pearce enters the plot with all his shiny T-bird and smart clothes from the city. When he and Glenda come face to face, they indulge in a violent affair that seems shocking and totally unpredictable at the same time. With this novel, author Woodrell has tried to tell the story of a teenager’s descent into the adult world reluctantly, in which he goes through an ultimate and unforgettable journey.