Richard Russo on Under the Falls, Hometown Secrets, and Writing a Thriller

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About this conversation

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo joins Brian to discuss his propulsive new novel, Under the Falls. Set in the fictional upstate New York town of Stone Mountain, the novel follows a famous musician returning home to a community shaped by old secrets, economic decline, the opioid epidemic, and a devastating accident. Russo shares how the story began as a television pilot, why he ultimately transformed it into a novel, and how he brought the momentum of a thriller to the deeply human, character-driven storytelling readers have come to love. They also discuss the complicated pull of our hometowns, the moral ambiguity of survival, Jason Isbell’s influence on the book, and the pivotal moment that helped Russo understand what kind of writer he wanted to become. Under the Falls is available August 11 from Knopf and wherever books are sold.

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