CAMDEN, Maine — Richard Russo's blue-collar background is embedded in his DNA, so it's no surprise that his first novel since the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Empire Falls" draws again from his fond but unvarnished memories of life in a dying factory town.

The much-anticipated "Bridge of Sighs," out last week, is set in Thomaston, N.Y., a tannery town that could be a dead ringer for Gloversville, N.Y., the one-time glove-making capital of the world, where the author spent his first 17 years.

Russo, who characterizes himself as a comic writer, calls it his darkest novel, one that took him "into some pretty dark places" as it touched upon issues of class, race, violence and ignorance. Never, he says, has writing a book left him so exhausted and on the edge of despair.

In depicting an Empire Falls overshadowed by its vacant shirt factory and textile mill or a struggling tannery whose polluted waters leave Thomaston with a legacy of cancer deaths, Russo's sense of place and affection for the local citizens ring loud and clear.

"I think of these novels of mine as snapshots of the America that means the most to me and the one that I see disappearing before my eyes. These places, these people, these jobs, these rhythms of life, they've all just been outsourced," he says.

"I feel like I'm bringing it up from some very deep subconscious well," says Russo, who feels no need to research such places.

Russo's father worked as a part-time leather cutter and supplemented his income by tending bar and working construction; Russo would join his father on road crews during summer vacations from college.

He sees himself as a historian of sorts, one who draws on personal memories without getting mired in nostalgia. His latest small-town portrait is also more overtly political, especially in its depiction of economic decline and racial prejudice.

The central character of "Bridge of Sighs" is Louis Charles "Lucy" Lynch, who was saddled with his unfortunate nickname when a teacher during roll call at the start of kindergarten read his name as Lou C. Lynch.

Lucy, who inherited a small chain of convenience stores his parents started, retains his father's incurable optimism. His family history, along with the town's, unfold as he and his wife Sarah prepare for a late-life trip to Venice to visit a childhood friend and famous painter.

Fit and trim at 58, Russo has an easy smile, an infectious laugh and a neat, stubble-length beard that's turning gray. An empty nester whose two daughters got engaged this year, he lives with his wife, Barbara, in their home a short walk from the center of this Penobscot Bay town, whose streets are awash with tourists during the summer.

After winning his 2002 Pulitzer, Russo acknowledges that he felt pressure to write a novel that would rank as his best.

"Whenever you're blessed and fortunate enough to win something like that, you don't want your next book to be crappy," he says. "And you don't want it to be a slight effort. You want the next one to be ambitious."

"Bridge of Sighs" is named for the enclosed bridge in Venice that convicts crossed on their way to prison. "It struck me early on that the Bridge of Sighs was a metaphor for despair," Russo says, and each of the major characters will have to cross his or her personal Bridge of Sighs.

Russo made several visits to Venice, whose history of recurring plagues evokes images of tainted waters similar to those in Thomaston. His wife, who loves to travel, had dragged him there the first time, and Russo immediately fell in love with it.

"A city without cars, and good linguini," he says. "It's the confluence of all the things that I love."