A novel of enduring power, The Silver Spooner is the story of a man who tries to be something he is not, a woman who loves him for what he is, and a friend who tries to free him from his illusionsEarl Kruger was one of the last of his breed. A kingpin rancher, he wanted to own all of Oklahoma. He ran the largest cattle operation in the state-and acted as though he ran everything else, too. A. G. Kruger is running hard-trying to catch his father's shadow. But he lacks the old man's confidence and power, and when Earl dies, A. G. feels unprepared to manage the Sunrise Ranch alone. He never knows whether to treat his workers as buddies or servants. He learns the hard way that he can't do both.Claire is A. G.'s wife. She's a bright and beautiful woman whose modern ideas and ambitions are respected-if not thoroughly understood-by A. G. and scorned by his father. But Claire is used to grappling for her share in life. She grapples now with Earl Kruger-and his memory-for possession of his son.Ramsey Hogan is A. G.'s best friend from childhood. Fatherless, he grew up on the Sunrise, and has always felt a great debt to the Krugers. Now he wonders if it was worth the price.These are people whose lives reflect all the subtle complexities of modern American life and the rawness of a land that rose out of dust bowl bankruptcy. Caught up in an environment of wildly clashing values, they struggle to play out their lives, torn between the claims of past and present. Their story is one of powerful dreams, expectations, attempts, and failures; of love that gets buried beneath disappointments, and unwanted desires that appear in its place; of friendship and marriage; of pride and resentment; and of hope.Peopled with characters who live and breathe, The Silver Spooner is an unforgettable human drama that is as funny and sad and unpredictable as life itself.
From a
New York Times-bestselling author: A novel of postwar American dreams and an Oklahoma ranching dynasty.
A kingpin rancher in eastern Oklahoma, Earl Kruger built the largest cattle operation in the state. Admired for his ambition and hated for his ruthlessness, he was the last of a breed that rose to wealth and power out of the desolation of the dust bowl. When he dies, his only son, A.G., a "silver spooner", privileged but unprepared, discovers that the tough old man cast a long shadow. And A.G. isn't the only one under its influence.
So is Ramsey Hogan. A.G.'s best friend and surrogate brother, the orphan grew up on the Krugers' Sunrise Ranch. As indebted to the family as he is lost, Ramsey is searching for his own identity on a destructive path that takes him to Hollywood and back again. But A.G.'s wife, Claire, is defining herself by the Kruger legacy. Beautiful, calculating, and as driven as her late father-in-law, she's determined to grab hold of a tycoon's life and never let go.
In a changing world of wildly clashing values, they struggle to play out their lives, caught between the claims of past and present, the demands of friendship and marriage, and the promise of hope and the burden of dreams, in this saga by a PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author.
