Staff Pick
I love T. Greenwood! Her story lines are just amazing, and it feels like her characters are your neighbors — they seem so real. Here we have Ben Bailey, who wakes up one snowy morning to find a man, collapsed and bloody, in the snow on his front lawn. That is only the beginning of the drama for Ben. Unfortunately, Ben is his own worst enemy, and the crises that follow are mostly of his own making. Yet, he can't seem to stop himself from eviscerating his own life. Greenwood is a master storyteller who excels at the beautiful twists and turns that lead to a satisfying novel. I'm hoping and praying that she has a very long and very prolific career! Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
T. Greenwood, acclaimed author of
Two Rivers and
The Hungry Season, crafts a moving, lyrical story of loss, atonement, and promises kept.
One November morning, Ben Bailey walks out of his Flagstaff, Arizona, home to retrieve the paper. Instead, he finds Ricky Begay, a young Navajo man, beaten and dying in the newly fallen snow.
Unable to forget the incident, especially once he meets Ricky's sister, Shadi, Ben begins to question everything, from his job as a part-time history professor to his fianc e, Sara. When Ben first met Sara, he was mesmerized by her optimism and easy confidence. These days, their relationship only reinforces a loneliness that stretches back to his fractured childhood.
Ben decides to discover the truth about Ricky's death, both for Shadi's sake and in hopes of filling in the cracks in his own life. Yet the answers leave him torn--between responsibility and happiness, between his once-certain future and the choices that could liberate him from a delicate web of lies he has spun.
Synopsis
The acclaimed author of "Two Rivers" crafts her most emotionally nuanced and unforgettable work yet--the dramatic character-driven story of a man torn between the pursuit of happiness and a crushing sense of responsibility.