The Reserve, by Adirondack-based author Russell Banks, is out in paperback and offers another of the author’s stories set close to home in the North Country. The novel was inspired by historical events and figures of the early 20th century. The main character, Jordan Groves, is loosely based on another famous Adirondack artist, Rockwell Kent. Like both Banks and Kent, Groves is a skilled artist and writer, a flawed outsider whose admirers offer easy entry into worlds of affluence and influence.
In The Reserve, that world is a private Adirondack reserve populated only part-time by socialites escaping from the city to establish some dominance over the wild country, and the local guides and residents that depend on the wealthy wilderness adventurers.
It’s one thing to read about history in a book and try to imagine the scene of 10,000 Redcoats marching into Plattsburgh to take over Lake Champlain from the American army, but it’s a whole other thing to experience the 1814 Battle of Plattsburgh live.
Rule Of The Bone is an acclaimed novel by award-winning, Adirondack-based author Russell Banks. Though much of the story is set in the North Country and features Plattsburgh, Keene Valley and both Au Sable Forks and Chasm, it remains a secret to many residents of the region. But that may not be for long.
Banks has adapted the coming-of-age story for the big screen, and told North Country Scene that Belgian director Alain Berliner is supposed to start shooting this fall. According to Banks, Berliner would love to film in the region.
“Unless it’s a lot cheaper to do it somewhere else, they’re going to try to shoot it in upstate New York,” Banks said.
It’s one thing to read about history in a book and try to imagine the scene of 10,000 Redcoats marching into Plattsburgh to take over Lake Champlain from the American army, but it’s a whole other thing to experience the 1814 Battle of Plattsburgh live.
Rule Of The Bone is an acclaimed novel by award-winning, Adirondack-based author Russell Banks. Though much of the story is set in the North Country and features Plattsburgh, Keene Valley and both Au Sable Forks and Chasm, it remains a secret to many residents of the region. But that may not be for long.