As he heads back to Solace Fork, North Carolina, Martin Owenby has plenty of strikes against him. He is a drunk. He is a gay man who’s hidden the secret from his family. He is virtually penniless, having failed to fulfill his early promise as a playwright. And he is estranged from the community where he grew up.
But Martin has no choice when his brother Leon mysteriously disappears — he forsakes his urban life in New York City and returns to his roots.
The gravitational pull of family slowly brings Martin back into the fold. Soon, he begins teaching English at the community college, reconnects with siblings and a former girlfriend, and revisits his past — all the while struggling with his alcoholic urge to drown his painful failures. Formidable obstacles crowd his road to redemption.
The chapters alternate between Martin’s perspective, and family and community members’ points of view as they exhume the past in an attempt to make sense of their present relationships. One sibling sees ghosts; another battles guilt from past sins. One friend makes peace with her marriage, finally releasing her fantasy of a romance with Martin.
By the novel’s end, the mystery of the missing brother is solved. More important, the mysteries of the human heart reveal their complexity. Newton, a lawyer and mediator from Asheville, deftly choreographs vignettes from the lives of multiple characters and twines their stories into a satisfying whole.
HarperCollins Publishers. 2011, 352 pages, paperback, $13.99.
Why does this Haywood County town have some of the cleanest water in the state? It’s the result of the community’s efforts to keep the forests in its watershed pristine.
The spectacular views in North Carolina’s High Country aren’t just inspiration for writers, painters, and sculptors. Those landscapes — the rugged gray face of Grandfather Mountain, the vibrant fall leaves, the deep green meadows — are brushstrokes on Earth’s own canvas.
The sprawling vineyards and wide-open skies that stretch for miles across seven North Carolina counties offer relaxing getaways — not to mention some of the state’s finest wines — for Sunday drivers aching to escape the rush of city life.
Nothing lasts forever — and that’s what makes many of our cherished moments so special.
