No Prisoners

An aged embalmer discovers a new connection to life. As a husband, he promised his dying wife he’d write their story of love and grief, sweetness, sadness. Twenty-five years later, he may not have a first sentence for the story of their marriage but also the start of a loving final chapter of his own. If sex and the dead, as Yeats instructed, are topics worthy of a serious mind, then Doyle Shields has a very serious mind indeed. His professional work was preparing the dead for their funerals, while his passion was pleasing his beloved partners. First, there was monogamous joy with Sally and then, after years of bereavement, after giving up on love and its blessings, there was Johanna, whose lovemaking makes Doyle believe in a life of the spirit. Still, life, as Doyle learned as a young combat Marine, takes no prisoners. It comes and goes and goes on with or without our participation or approval. And Doyle, approaching his end, is haunted by the wounds of the war fought in his youth. Award-winning writer and poet Thomas Lynch has wrought a sprawling, enthralling first novel about the pursuit of meaning, purpose, redemption and forgiveness, and the search for beauty in an imperfect world. It is for any reader who believes such quests can end in splendid victory. As Doyle feels God whisper, “Wait and see.” Praise for No Prisoners “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?