Lord of Misrule

Jaimy Gordon · b. 1944 · United States

Why it matters

A claiming-race horse and the grooms, trainers, and gamblers scraping by around him circle a rundown West Virginia track across four unglamorous races. Gordon's dense, dialect-rich novel, published by a tiny press, won the National Book Award in a stunning upset.

At a glance

Thick racetrack dialect and shifting close-third perspectives take some acclimating.