The Image A Novel in Pieces

ONE OF TEN LONGLISTED IN THE 2021 SHELF UNBOUND BEST INDIE BOOK COMPETITION

FINALIST FOR THE 2021 FOREWORD INDIES AWARDS

A naked boy wanders alone through a divided land carrying precious rocks, and seeks refuge in a cave below a hidden monastery in the mountains. A middle-aged man returns to the home of his youth in Lebanon, to a cave where he confronts a thief with a camera and protects a sacred, centuries-old piece of art. Months later, carrying the treasured face in his briefcase, the photographer faces the utter loss of all he has hoped for. Three stories. Three men. One image: a timeless work of art. The Image is a profound and compelling collection of linked short stories about faith, hope, belonging, and the search for meaning within a holy land.

Steven Faulkner grew up in what is now South Sudan and in Ethiopia in Africa, and later in Kansas. After dropping out of college, he worked a variety of jobs: driving dump trucks, planting grave vaults, newspaper and doughnut delivery, and fourteen years as a carpenter. He returned to school, acquired the necessary degrees, and now teaches Creative Writing at Longwood University in southern Virginia. His first book was Waterwalk: A Passage of Ghosts. His new book is Bitterroot: Echoes of Beauty and Loss. Both are nonfiction accounts of father-son journeys along historic trails.