Purchase link:
[coming soon]

Title Availability

Press kit here.
Publisher Direct
Kindle edition [pending]
Ingram distribution [pending]
Barnes & Noble [pending]
Amazon.com [pending]

Advance Praise for The Purple Runner:

When I read The Purple Runner, I was a senior distance runner and English major at Boston College dreaming of becoming an elite runner; when I finished this novel, I suddenly turned those dreams toward becoming an elite writer. Paul Christman's prose came to me at a time where I was looking for something different, exciting, international, and literary. The Purple Runner took me to a place that other running novels had failed to. Pastoral Hampstead Heath—just outside London, as well as his characters—are as magical as Camelot or King Arthur's Green Knight. Twenty-five years later, Christman's writing has even proved to be visionary as the world record in the marathon creeps toward the two-hour mark and teenage harriers still are curious about the mysterious legends like Steve Prefontaine. In the end, I probably lost training time reading and re-reading his vibrant passages as his protagonists surged past Big Ben or up Parliament Hill, disappearing down a dirt trail, into the woods. The Purple Runner is a must read for anyone who has ever put on a pair of racing flats.
—Michael J. Atwood, author HiStory of Santa Monica and Boston Globe Track and Field "Coach of the Year"

The Purple Runner has long been a favorite, capturing as it does the daily interactions of a handful of dedicated runners training together and racing against each other in a London that Christman manages to make familiar to us even if we've never been there. As the world marathon record continues to come down closer to two hours, the novel takes on even more importance. And what boy in a man's body
doesn't love The Purple Runner's batcave?
—Richard Benyo, editor, Marathon & Beyond, author of Timeless Running Wisdom

An exciting yarn that holds the reader to the tape.
—Dick Quax, Olympian and former 5000 m. world record holder

This book is like a good race: it starts out easy, picks up in the middle, and finishes with a dazzling sprint. Runners everywhere will enjoy it.
—Lorraine Moller, 1980, 1982 Avon International Marathon winner

More than just a good running novel—a good novel.
—Steve Flanagan, 1976, 1977, 1979 USA Cross Country Team

All runners everywhere can identify with what each character is going through to achieve his or her running dream—an inspiring piece of work.
—Wendy Sly, British and Commonwealth 5000 m. record holder