{"product_id":"remember-ben-clayton-9780307265814","title":"Remember Ben Clayton","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the author of the acclaimed best seller The Gates of the Alamo  a new novel that confirms and enlarges Stephen Harrigans reputation as a major voice in American fiction.  Francis Gil Gilheaney is a sculptor of boundless ambition. But bad fortune and his own prideful spirit have driven him from New York into artistic exile in Texas just after World War I. His adult daughter  Maureen  serves as his assistant  although she has artistic ambitions of her own and is beginning to understand how her own careerperhaps even her lifehas become hostage to her driven fathers wild pursuit of glory. When Lamar Clayton  an aging  heartbroken rancher  offers Gil a commission to create a memorial statue of his son Ben  who was killed in the war  Gil seizes the opportunity to create what he believes will be his greatest achievement.  As work proceeds on the statue  Gil and Maureen come to realize that their new client is a far more complicated man than he appeared to be on first acquaintance  and that Lamar is guarding a secret that haunts his relationship with his son even in death. But Gil is haunted as well: by the fear that his work will be forgotten and by an unconscionable lie whose discovery could cost him his daughters love. The creation of the statue leads to a chain of dramatic encounters  through which Maureen will test the boundaries of her independence and Gil and Lamar  each in his own painful way  will confront their worth as fathers.  Remember Ben Clayton vividly depicts a rich swath of American history  from the days when the Comanches ruled the Southern plains to the final brutal months of World War I. It ranges from outlaw settlements on the Texas frontier to the cafs of Paris  from Indian encampments to artists ateliers to the forgotten battlefield in France where Ben Clayton died. It shows us the all-consuming labor that a monumental work of sculpture demands and the price it exacts from both artist and patron. And with unforgettable power and compassion it presents a deeply moving story about the bonds between fathers and children  and about the power and purpose of art.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45646998175797,"sku":"ByrdShop_0307265811","price":34.88,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780307265814.jpg?v=1781684840","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/remember-ben-clayton-9780307265814","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}