So the Wind Won't Blow it all Away is a beautifully-written, brooding gem of a novel - set in the Pacific Northwest region of Oregon where Brautigan spent most of his childhood.Through the eyes, ears and voice of Brautigan's youthful protagonist the reader is gently led into a small-town tale where the narrator accidentally shoots dead his best friend with a gun. The novel deals with the repercussions of this tragedy and its recurring theme of 'What if...' fuels anguish, regret and self-blame as well as some darkly comic passages of bitter-sweet romance and despair.Taken with the recently discovered, An Unfortunate Woman, these two late Brautigan novels are a fitting epitaph to a complex, contradictory and often misunderstood genius.

Introduction by: Jeffrey Lent