Name: Willy Vlautin | The Left and the Lucky
Start: 2026-04-24T19:00:00-04:00
Location: A Cappella Books

The acclaimed Willy Vlautin returns with a heartbreaking and tender novel about two young brothers, the vicissitudes of fate, and unexpected connection—a beautiful and bittersweet portrait that illuminates the power of friendship and how it can save lives in multiple ways.
A Cappella Books is delighted to welcome Vlautin for an in-store talk and signing in honor of his new novel, “The Left and the Lucky.”
This event is free and open to the public; copies of the book will be available for purchase.
About the Book
Eddie Wilkens is a workaholic house painter in his early forties. His wife has left him to her regret, and his main employee, Houston, is a loafer and scoundrel who barely shows up for work. Unassuming and self-reliant, Eddie is thoughtful man who rarely gets angry, despite life's frequent provocations, but he is ruled by a guilt that he has carried for nearly twenty years.
Next door, a woman and her two sons move in with her frail and aging mother. The youngest boy, Russell, eight-years-old, is quiet and small for his age and lives in constant terror of his increasingly lost and troubled fifteen-year-old brother, Curtis. As their mother struggles to keep the family together and the grandmother’s health begins to faulter they find themselves unable to protect Russell and themselves from Curtis’s cruelty, which threatens to explode in frenetic violence.
Though neither knows it, Russell and Eddie will become each other’s saving grace.
While Russell’s home life disintegrates he begins waiting in Eddie’s backyard for him to get off work. Eddie offers the boy small acts of kindness: he feeds him, gives him jobs to do, listens to his dreams of escape, and offers Russell a glimpse into a world of hope and humor. A world of misfit painters, a derelict muscle car, an old dog, and the comradery and companionship of Eddie and his crew. In return, Russell gives Eddie a reason to carry on and helps him lay to rest the guilt that has plagued him for half of his life.
Together, this makeshift father and son begin to build better life, daring to trade the bleakness and cynicism around them for hope and friendship.
From a writer revered for his thoughtful and compassionate portrayal of realistic American life, “The Left and the Lucky” is a heartbreakingly honest examination of how circumstance shapes our lives, and how the luck of finding someone who needs us can transcend bitter loneliness and prevent us from giving up on dreaming of a better life.
About the Author
Willy Vlautin is the author of the novels “The Motel Life,” “Northline,” “Lean on Pete,” “The Free,” “Don’t Skip Out on Me,” “The Night Always Comes,” and “The Horse.” He is the recipient of the 2025 Joyce Carol Oates Prize, three Oregon Book Awards, and The Nevada Silver Pen Award. He was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and was shortlisted for the Impac Award. Three of his novels have been adapted as films. He is the founding member of the bands Richmond Fontaine and The Delines.