Celebration of Norman MacLeod’s “The Bitter Roots” with authors Gabriella Graceffo and Robert Stubblefield at Shakespeare & Co.

Shakespeare & Co. is pleased to host a celebration for the reissue of Norman Macleod’s classic novel The Bitter Roots on Thursday, October 24 at 7:00 pm. Missoula author Gabriella Graceffo, who wrote the afterword, will read from the book and be in conversation with Missoula author and Director of UM Press, Robert Stubblefield. This event is free and open to the public.

The Bitter Roots is more than just a novel—it’s a vivid snapshot of life in Missoula, Montana, from 1917 to 1920, through the eyes of a determined fourteen-year-old boy, Pauly. As he swims in the Clark Fork River one summer day, Pauly witnesses a tragedy that sets the stage for his own struggle to find his identity amidst the tumult of early 20th-century America.

Norman Macleod’s largely autobiographical novel, first published in 1941 and now reissued for the first time, offers an unfiltered portrayal of a nation grappling with the harsh realities of racism, class prejudice, labor disputes, and the impact of World War I. This forgotten classic brings to life the daily challenges faced by a young boy surrounded by violence, strikes, gang fights, and the looming presence of Prohibition.

The Bitter Roots provides a rare, unvarnished glimpse into a young America, where Macleod’s detailed recollections of Missoula capture the essence of a small town on the brink of change. Readers are treated to a literary journey filled with newspaper clippings, songs, movie ads, and patriotic slogans that paint a rich tapestry of the era.

This novel also offers a unique window into the formative years of Norman Maclean, the celebrated author of A River Runs Through It, and his brother Paul, adding another layer of depth to this historical narrative.

Author Bios
Gabriella Graceffo serves as Managing Editor for Poetry Northwest and is a PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies (English and Psychology) at the University of Montana. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Poets & Writers, Gulf Coast, Hippocampus, Autofocus, and others.

Poet and novelist Norman Macleod was born in Salem, Oregon, and earned a BA from the University of New Mexico and an MA from Columbia University. An editor at various magazines and journals, including Pembroke Magazine, Macleod was instrumental in establishing the Poetry Center at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. He taught at numerous institutions, including San Francisco State College, the University of Baghdad in Iraq, and Pembroke State University. His collections of poetry include Horizons of Death (1934), Thanksgiving Before November (1936), We Thank You All the Time (1941), A Man in Midpassage (1947), Pure as Nowhere (1962), Selected Poems (1975), and The Distance: New and Selected Poems, 1928–1977 (1977). He also wrote the novels You Get What You Ask For (1939) and The Bitter Roots (1941) and the autobiography I Never Lost Anything in Istanbul (1978).

Robert Stubblefield has published fiction and personal essays in Dreamers and Desperadoes: Contemporary Short Fiction of the American West, Best Stories of the American West, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Left Bank, The Clackamas Literary Review, Cascadia Times, Oregon Humanities, Oregon Salmon: Essays on the State of the Fish at the Turn of the Millennium, Open Spaces, basalt, High Desert Journal, and The Whitefish Review among others. Awards include a Georges and Anne Borchardt scholarship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Fishtrap Fellowship, and Imnaha Writers’ Retreat Fellowship. Robert grew up in eastern Oregon and now lives in Missoula, Montana and teaches at the University of Montana where he serves as Director of the BFA in Creative Writing and UM Press.