About the Book

“Red Sky at Morning is a minor marvel: it is a novel of paradox, of identity, of an overwhelming YES to life that embraces with wonder what we are pleased to call the human condition. In short, a work of art.”  — Harper Lee

Hailed by the Washington Post Book World as “a sort of Catcher in the Rye out West,” Richard Bradford’s Red Sky at Morning is the classic coming-of-age story set during World War II about the enduring spirit of youth and the values in life that count.

In the summer of 1944, Frank Arnold, a wealthy shipbuilder in Mobile, Alabama, receives his volunteer commission in the U.S. Navy and moves his wife, Ann, and seventeen-year-old son, Josh, to the family’s summer home in the village of Corazon Sagrado, high in the New Mexico mountains. A true daughter of the Confederacy, Ann finds it impossible to cope with the quality of life in the largely Hispanic village and, in the company of Jimbob Buel—an insufferable, South-proud, professional houseguest—takes to bridge and sherry. Josh, on the other hand, becomes an integral member of the Sagrado community, forging friendships with his new classmates, with the town’s disreputable resident artist, and with Amadeo and Excilda Montoya, the couple hired by his father to care for their house. 

Josh narrates the story of his fateful year in Sagrado and, with irresistibly deadpan, irreverent humor, describes the events and people who influence his progress to maturity. Unhindered by his mother's disdain for these "tacky, dusty little Westerners," Josh comes into his own and into a young man's finely formed understanding of duty, responsibility, and love. 

Critical Praise

“Red Sky at Morning is a minor marvel: it is a novel of paradox, of identity, of an overwhelming YES to life that embraces with wonder what we are pleased to call the human condition. In short, a work of art.”  — Harper Lee

“A sort of Catcher in the Rye out West....What makes the book a true delight is the deadpan, irreverent humor with which Josh tells the story... No brief review can do justice to Mr. Bradford’s book.” — Washington Post Book World

“A refreshing book, straightforward, funny, touching and, despite the caricatures and wisecracks and passed-over problems, true.” — New York Times Book Review

“A terribly funny book with some of the richest characters I’ve read about in some years.” — Groucho Marx

“Bradford believes in the human comedy the way DiMaggio believes in baseball, the way Nureyev believes in the dance, the way people, no matter what, believe in laughing when they might just as well be weeping.” — Richard Condon, novelist

“Bradford’s book has bite as well as beauty and graceful wit. . . . To my mind it is precisely what a novel ought to be--an entertainment, a book to read for the plain joy of reading. In short, a delight.” — H. Allen Smith, humorist

Product Details

• ISBN: 9780060931902
• ISBN 10: 0060931906
• Imprint: Harper Perennial
• On Sale: 08/18/2020
• Trimsize: 5.310 in (w) x 8.000 in (h) x 0.580 in (d)
• Pages: 256
• List Price: $16.99
• BISAC1 : FICTION / Classics
• BISAC2 : FICTION / Historical / World War II
• BISAC3 : FICTION / Coming of Age