On the Invisible Palm of God by Joseph Hurka

“Renders with grace and tenderness the often unconscious need and yearning a young person has for an authentic teacher... a beautiful and deeply moving memoir.” Andre Dubus III

In his undergraduate years, Joseph Hurka’s mentor was the writer Andre Dubus, a great, large spirit of a man, today considered a twentieth-century master of the short story. Dubus opened new artistic doors for the young Hurka; he sent his student on to the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, where Hurka started his career in earnest as a writer and teacher himself. 

In 1986 Dubus, trying to help stranded motorists on a highway outside Boston, survived a traumatic highway accident that left him with thirty-four broken bones and an amputated leg. Hurka did his best, for the remaining twelve years of Dubus’ life, to help as his mentor and friend went through a courageous fight to regain physical strength and to write again; ON THE INVISIBLE PALM OF GOD is about an enduring friendship, and the hidden resilience of the human spirit that resides within all of us.

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Pub date: 10-Jun-2025

Page count: 274

ISBN: 978-3-98832-153-4