No Prisoners

Thomas Lynch is the author of six books of essays, a book of short fiction and six books of poetry. He was a National Book Award finalist for The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade and is the recipient of the American Book Award, The Heartland Prize for Nonfiction, The Denise Levertov Award, The Great Lakes Book Award, and Michigan Authors Award. He has taught with the Candler School of Theology at Emory, the Graduate Program in Writing at Michigan, and Mortuary Science at Wayne State. He lives in Michigan, where he worked as a funeral director until his retirement, and in Ireland, where he keeps an ancestral home. No Prisoners is his first novel.

“Award-winning writer and poet Thomas Lynch has deftly crafted his debut novel with the overarching theme of the pursuit of meaning, purpose, redemption and forgiveness, as well as the search for beauty in an imperfect world. No Prisoners is emotionally engaging and raised by the author’s impressive storytelling skills with an eloquence that raises his novel to an impressive level of literary excellence.”—Midwest Book Review“Thomas Lynch is a writer with a singular voice, a connoisseur of language, and a man of great depth and humor, all of which are present in his splendid first novel, No Prisoners. The deep, rich prose through which he proves himself to be a master storyteller is gorgeous and profound.”—Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under“For decades Thomas Lynch has shown himself to be a master both of poetry and non-fiction. Now he proves to be a master of prose fiction too and offers a first novel that’s deep and focused and fine. The language shimmers: a wordsmith working at the top of his bent and giving a gift to us all.”—Nicholas Delbanco, author of Still Life at Eighty: A Memoir“Charmingly terrifying, sacredly profane, No Prisoners, like its protagonist, Doyle, is unforgettable, wittily unsettling, all new. As elegant as it is raw and as serious as it is playful, this is a novel you truly need to read.”—Laura Kasischke, author of Mind of Winter“This unexpected novel from our greatest poet of myth and mortality is cause for celebration. Thomas Lynch never fails to startle and surprise us.”—Joan Baez, author of When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance“Doyle Shields—ninety years old, ex-marine and survivor of the bloody battles of the South Pacific, retired embalmer, widower, sober alcoholic, failed terrorist, and the hero of Thomas Lynch’s first novel—ages, if not gracefully at least thoughtfully, toward his end. No Prisoners touches on the subjects that have informed much of Lynch’s work, but in the end becomes a deeply moving exploration of the process of aging and the necessities of love.”—Keith Taylor, author of What Can the Matter Be?