Winner of a 2021 PenCraft Book Award!
“STEALING AWAY is a lush, shimmering collection, at once globe-trotting and far-afield, and also somehow as intimate and quotidian as any small hometown. Revolinski, an accomplished non-fiction writer, proves with this book that he has incredible range, wisdom, and empathy. I raced through this collection of short stories and can’t wait to read more of his fiction. A fantastic debut.”
– Nickolas Butler, NYT bestselling author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Little Faith
Where to Purchase Stealing Away
“It was the summer before senior year when Danny and I decided the adults in our lives had irredeemably failed us, and so we hit the road.” A high-school runaway; two orphans with a battered canteen and a dead dog in the Mexican desert; a bookkeeper obsessed with a murder photo; a man haunted by a childhood tragedy. Whether returning to small-town homes or getting lost in the souks of Syria, the characters in these twelve stories struggle to find purpose and choose between escape and making peace with their lots.
“With the insight of a world traveler and the heart of a kind Midwestern neighbor, Revolinski’s dark, engrossing stories find flickers of hope in a disorienting world.” — J. Ryan Stradal, award-winning author of The Lager Queen of Minnesota and Kitchens of the Great Midwest
“Whatever scene Revolinski drops his reader into, you feel like you are really there.” – Citizen Reader (scroll down for full review)
Kevin Revolinski is the author of 16 books, including Wisconsin’s Best Beer Guide, 60 Hikes Madison, and The Yogurt Man Cometh: Tales of an American Teacher in Turkey. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Sydney Morning Herald. A frequent guest on Wisconsin Public Radio, he lives in Madison, Wisconsin. Check out his travel website at The Mad Traveler or his personal page.
Book Event with the author hosted by Mystery to Me bookstore
Full Review from Citizen Reader:
“At last, a book that gets the Midwest right. And I don’t mean the “Midwest” that appears in most published literary fiction. I mean the actual Midwest, complete with houses containing furniture bought at St. Vincent de Paul, both interstates and tiny country backroads, Wal-marts, and gravel driveways. Author Kevin Revolinski has a nice touch with description, and whatever scene he drops his reader into (and the locations here are not exclusively in the Midwest), you feel like you are really there.
The stories are realistic and clear-eyed, but even when things start to turn ugly, they don’t always end that way (and Revolinski doesn’t dwell on ugliness just for the sake of doing so, which this reader appreciates).
I only get the chance to read at night, when I’m worn out, and each time I picked up this book I still had to read to the end of whatever story I’d started, no matter how tired I was. Each story is strong in its own way, but I particularly enjoyed the very short story “Maple Seeds.” It is about one small moment between a man and a woman who don’t know each other, but who are aware of one another anyway. I love Revolinski’s way of writing female characters, which doesn’t belittle them or simply make them objects to look at, but truly makes them fleshed-out human characters with not always predictable motives and actions of their own.
I found these accessible, very readable, but still very thoughtful stories, and I thoroughly enjoyed the read. The author is also a travel writer and blogger, and his attention to the details and nuance of place and landscape is shown off to very good effect here.”
— Sarah Cords, Citizen Reader, author of Bingeworthy British Television: The Best Brit TV You Can’t Stop Watching and The Real Story: A Guide to Nonfiction Reading Interests
Read a review of Stealing Away from:
(or listen to the fun podcast version)
