The Codger and the Sparrow
The Codger and the Sparrow
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Reviews for The Codger and the Sparrow:
- Lone Star Literary Life (⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐)
- New York Journal of Books
- Midwest Book Review (Highly Recommended)
- Book Reviews to Ponder (⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐)
From award-winning writer Scott Semegran, his latest novel The Codger and the Sparrow (Paperback from TCU Press, Audiobook from Vibrance Press) is a comical yet moving story about a widower’s unlikely friendship with a young troublemaker.
Hank O’Sullivan can’t catch a break. The 65-year-old widower lives a routine life, nursing his loneliness with cocktails at his favorite local bar in Austin, Texas. A brawl with an acerbic barfly lands him in jail. The judge pities the old codger and sentences him to do community service, picking up trash beside the interstate highway.
Luis Delgado lives with his stern, single father in a small apartment. The 16-year-old troublemaker has remarkable artistic abilities, but his penchant for sneaking out and trespassing onto rooftops late at night also lands him in community service.
These loners form an unlikely friendship in an inhospitable setting. When Hank tells Luis about his desire to drive to Houston, Texas to reconnect with an old flame, Luis asks to tag along. Luis’ estranged mother also lives in Houston and he has been saving money for a trip, dreaming of reconnecting with her. Hank agrees, setting in motion a raucous road trip in a hot pink 1970 Plymouth Barracuda. Neither Hank nor Luis find what they are looking for, but something altogether different and unexpected happens.
With humor and a bit of grace, The Codger and the Sparrow is a rambunctious story about an unusual friendship stretching across the generations.
“Scott Semegran’s The Codger and the Sparrow is a wondrous novel of the road, where two unlikely people seek out the larger world, and in their uncertainty, help each other navigate the way toward something like home. Told with such an abundance of both humor and tenderness, this is a novel of discovery, of searching for answers, and I could not think of two people I’d rather ride alongside than Hank and Luis.” – Kevin Wilson, New York Times Bestselling author of Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang
“The Codger and The Sparrow is delicious fun. A story told with an abundance of surprise and humor; I loved the characters, the snappy dialogue, and hitting the road in the pink Barracuda. Scott Semegran is one hell of a writer, and this is a terrific novel.” – Annie Hartnett, author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals
Read an excerpt here.
Praise for The Codger and the Sparrow
“Semegran deftly blends humor with heart in a road trip romp that crosses generational divides. A coming-of-age for one, a coming-to-terms for the other, Semegran’s characters are deeply drawn in a way that envelops readers from the start of their journey to its unexpected end. The Codger and the Sparrow is a fun, fresh meditation on friendship, loss, and new beginnings.” – James Wade, Spur Award-winning author of All Things Left Wild and River, Sing Out
“Scott Semegran’s characters capture the essential human contradiction: that deep flaws and bad decisions exist right alongside our beautiful capacity for kindness and compassion. With equal parts heart and humor, The Codger and the Sparrow is an ode to the strange, messy, and transformative power of friendship.” – Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, Texas
“The Codger and the Sparrow captures many of the joys themselves of the stories it tells—road trips and friendships, chasing curiosities and relationships. The surprises of ourselves and the wonders of the larger world only discovered on the other side of awkward silences and things gone wrong, the beauty of life when fully embraced. It made me want to go on a road trip, to call up an old friend or make one anew, to take a sketchbook with me out into the world and draw the places that have made me who I am.” – Aaron Burch, author of Year of the Buffalo
“The Codger and the Sparrow marks a leap forward in Scott Semegran’s already impressive narrative artistry. Semegran brings to mind Hemingway’s dictum that we are stronger in our broken places, as he brings us inside two very different characters—an aging, irascible widower and an artistically gifted orphan—and shows them coming together in a compelling story of grief and renewal.” – Thomas H. McNeely, award-winning author of Pictures of the Shark and Ghost Horse
“The Codger and the Sparrow is a wide-open heart of a novel, filled with empathy and populated by flawed but loveable characters. A tender, funny ode to families—the ones we’ve lost, the ones we imagine, and the ones that come along when we least expect it.” – C. Matthew Smith, author of Twentymile
“Author Scott Semegran delivers a moving and humorous story of two strangers who bond while doing community service for the Austin judicial system. Hank, a lonely old man haunted by the past, and Luis, a Puerto Rican teen broken by his parents’ separation, begin a journey of self-discovery and friendship in a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda as they travel the highways of Texas in search of forgiveness and family. The Codger and the Sparrow, like many of Semegran’s novels, shines in its loveable characters and authentic sense of place.” – Johnnie Bernhard, award-winning author of Sisters of the Undertow and Hannah and Ariela
“Scott Semegran’s “odd couple” story is both endearing and heartfelt. It’s about the struggles of two men who must lean on each other to find a place for themselves in a seemingly neglectful world. This beautiful tale is Semegran’s most powerful novel yet!” – Ran Walker, award-winning author of A Burst of Gray and Keep It 100
“In this wonderful gem of a novel Scott Semegran expertly crafts a most unlikely friendship between grumpy white widower Hank and Puerto Rican teenager Luis, who meet while serving community service. With beautifully concise language Semegran masterfully deepens his portraits of these odd companions until they rival some of the greatest characters in American literature. Connected by the rage that simmers within and the losses life has forced them to live through, Hank and Luis come to find in each other not only friendship but hope for a future without the brutal weight of negativity. The result is a sincere and touching journey across racial, generational and cultural lines, from darkness into light, told with Semegran’s trademark belief in the capacity of the human spirit to overcome our darkest instincts and lift one another up instead. This conviction provides the foundation for all of Semegran’s fiction, but never has he written so beautifully nor with such breathtaking authenticity as he does in The Codger and the Sparrow.” – Philip Elliott, award-winning author of Nobody Move and Porno Valley
“The Codger and the Sparrow is Semegran at his feel-good best, bumping up the artistry while rolling heartache and laughs into yet another of his poignant, masterful gems.” – Brian Kindall, author of Delivering Virtue
“In The Codger and the Sparrow, author Scott Semegran has deftly woven together humor and heart in this tale about an odd couple navigating life and the road. Semegran has breathed life into a pair of wonderful characters in Hank and Luis. At once a fun romp and tender tale of life, love, and friendship, The Codger and the Sparrow is a thoroughly satisfying story from first page to last.” – Rick Treon, PenCraft Award-winning author of Deep Background and Let the Guilty Pay
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Paperback Info
ISBN: 978-0875658681
LCCN: 2023049066
Copyright: © 2024 Scott Semegran
Language: English
Edition: First Edition
Printed: 226 pages, 6" x 9", perfect binding
Publisher: TCU Press
Category: Fiction / Literary / Humorous / Friendship
eBook Info
ISBN: 978-0875658759
LCCN: 2023049067
ASIN: B0CW18R79C
Copyright: © 2024 Scott Semegran
Language: English
Publisher: TCU Press
Category: Fiction / Literary / Humorous / Friendship
Word Count: 71,629 words
Audiobook Info
For more about the audiobook edition and links for purchase, please go here.
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