Mark Cecil at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes MARK CECIL—host of The Thoughtful Bro podcast—for a discussion of his debut novel Bunyan and Henry; Or, the Beautiful Destiny. He will be joined in conversation by HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN—37 time Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter for Boston's WHDH-TV and author of The House Guest.

About Bunyan and Henry; Or, the Beautiful Destiny

Paul Bunyan—legendary larger-than-life American lumberjack—is a man down on his luck. With a load of family debts on his broad back, he ekes out a miserable miner’s life in Lump Town, a bleak hamlet controlled by famed industrialist El Boffo. When Bunyan's wife Lucette falls ill with a disease caused by the toxic mineral Lump, he embarks on a quest to save her. His only guide: the Chilali—a mysterious creature who speaks only in questions.

Bunyan’s path leads to The Windy City—and to John Henry. Henry is not yet the “steel-drivin’” man known to folklore, but a fugitive on the run from a rigged, racist prison system. As Bunyan and Henry strive to reunite with the families they love, they must work together to solve riddles, forge weapons, brawl with a behemoth, and confront at every turn the relentless, duplicitous El Boffo.

A richly imaginative reinvention of myth, Bunyan and Henry is at once a timeless quest, a fresh origin story, and an urgent modern fable that wrestles with the two sides of the American dream—its wild idealism and cruel underbelly—to inspire the awakening of the folk hero in us all.

Praise for Bunyan and Henry; Or, the Beautiful Destiny

“With the might of a hammer and the slice of an axe, Bunyan and Henry takes aim at a host of societal blights, from capitalism to climate change, and smashes them all to smithereens. Mark Cecil has crafted an unforgettable cast of characters who will make you shout with joy and rage in anger, and a plot so romping and rollicking you’ll feel like you’re there. This isn’t your typical bedtime fable; it’s packed with searing social commentary delivered in the most delectable way. Cecil’s debut is an undeniably bright light to behold in a world sometimes full of so much dark, inspiring all of us to follow our own beautiful destinies. What a marvel.” —Mateo Askaripour, New York Times bestselling author of Black Buck

“A hopeful Twainian nod to brotherhood that puts the fun in profundity, even as it remixes American myth to the most sobering beats of our modern times.” —Matthew Quick, New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook and We Are the Light

"Cecil has quilted American folklore into a patchwork of courage, tenderness, and generosity of spirit. This is a book unafraid to stare the cruelties of this nation in the eye—and yet remains ever stitched-through with hope." —GennaRose Nethercott, author of Thistlefoot

Masking Policy

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.