“Leslie Garrett was a writer of wit, intelligence, and tremendous talent who overcame long odds to produce an acclaimed body of work. Poet and scholar Calvin Hernton called his novel, The Beasts, “Enthralling, magical, painful, delicate, subtle… a masterpiece.” Les became acquainted with Alan Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac, James Jones, James Baldwin, Nikki Giovanni and, of course, Knoxville’s own Cormac McCarthy. Both had just won awards for their first novel when they met in Europe. Cormac would later serve as best man at Les’s wedding, and they would keep in touch all the years. Leslie Garrett passed away in 1993, publishing only 2 novels, one of them this novel. Published by Charles Scribner’s Sons-New York on 1966

ISBN: 6622666