Nothing but Blue Skies was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1992. Frank Copenhaver is a prosperous Montana rancher who also runs a commercial real estate business. When his wife Gracie leaves him — abruptly, without explanation — Frank responds not with grief but with a manic energy that destroys everything he has built: he makes catastrophic business deals, drinks heavily, pursues inappropriate women, alienates his daughter, and generally behaves as if determined to match his external circumstances to his internal desolation.
The novel is McGuane’s funniest — a sustained comic performance in which Frank’s disasters accumulate with the momentum of a Buster Keaton film. But beneath the comedy is the same question that animates all of McGuane’s mature work: what holds a man together? Without Gracie — without the domestic structure she provided — Frank discovers that his competence, his success, his reputation were all dependent on a stability he never valued until it was gone.
The Montana setting is rendered with loving precision: cattle ranching, real estate speculation, fly fishing, small-town social dynamics, the tension between old ranching families and new money from California.
Collecting Nothing but Blue Skies
First edition (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1992): Boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine in jacket: $20–$40
- Signed first: $40–$80
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation. A fan favourite.
The Comic Demolition
Frank Copenhaver’s systematic destruction of his own success is McGuane’s great comic theme writ large. Abandoned by his wife, Frank responds not with dignified grief but with spectacular self-sabotage: buying a failing medical practice, pursuing unsuitable women, drinking with devastating commitment. The comedy is in the precision of each wrong decision — Frank is not stupid, merely determined to prove that comfort is intolerable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is McGuane considered an underrated writer? Yes. Despite a National Book Award nomination, regular publication by Knopf, and the admiration of writers like Jim Harrison, Annie Proulx, and Denis Johnson, McGuane has never achieved the popular readership his work deserves. His prose demands attention, and his subjects — Montana ranching, fishing, horses — are wrongly perceived as regional.