"The Left and the Lucky is a gem of a story filled with quiet misfits, miscreants, and the misunderstood, each, in their own way, keeping hope alive and the small wins counted. Willy Vlautin's understanding of masculinity, grief, and the bonds found families forge is palpable. Deeply forgiving and memorable, Vlautin is a true chronicler of the human heart." - Tammy Armstrong, Author of Pearly Everlasting

"No one anywhere writes with such power and such stark beauty about American desperation and want, American loneliness and heartache. We need Willy Vlautin like we needed Johnny Cash, like we needed Larry McMurtry-he's essential and every book he writes proves it all over again." -Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Full Throttle and Strange Weather

"The Left and the Lucky is a heartbreaking, gritty, funny, and sensitive portrait of American life, complete with rich characters and a really great dog. I loved the main characters, Eddie and Russell, and read their story in one big gulp. Willy Vlautin is a terrific, emphatic writer." -Annie Hartnett, author of The Road to Tender Hearts

"Brimming with compassion and hard-won tenderness ... the sort of novel you eagerly press into the hands of those you love." -Colin Walsh, Author of Kala

"One of Vlautin' s signature gifts is allowing his characters to navigate the uneasy coexistence of resilience and resignation. Hope survives in small increments-temporary reprieves rather than salvation. Ultimately, Vlautin suggests that dignity can exist even, or especially, in lives defined by struggle and loss, and that such fortitude may be the ultimate triumph of the human spirit." - Booklist (Starred Review)

"With genuine affection, Vlautin captures his characters' humanity and longing, showing, for example, how Russell daydreams about escaping to an island where he can live without fear. Readers will fall in love with this ode to a struggling community." -Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"A...compassionate and life-affirming tale about how human connection is critical to survival."
-Kirkus (Starred Review)

"Willy Vlautin applies his characteristic compassion and spare tone to an unlikely friendship in The Left and the Lucky, a novel of hard times and scant hope.... Vlautin continues to focus upon an American underclass marked by desperation and poverty, people often forgotten or abandoned. With a gruff tenderness, a quiet lyricism, and moments of humor. . . . Vlautin's character sketches and the careful value he places on perseverance are not soon forgotten." -Shelf Awareness

Praise for THE HORSE:

"A moving tale of suffering and redemption, The Horse portrays the immense gravity of what it takes to be human in tough times, and the elusive grace that might just be grasped from music, animals, and memory." - Geraldine Brooks

"Willy Vlautin writes about people overlooked by society and overlooked by literature. In The Horse, he tells the story of a tenderhearted man who has a steady talent and a crushing addiction. It is both a work of extraordinary compassion and a really great novel." - Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Tom Lake