The year was 1898 and army private Patrick Henry Frank was in New Orleans awaiting transport to Cuba to fight in the Spanish-American War. A change in orders and Private Frank was instead going to the Philippines. Admiral Dewey had stunningly defeated the Spanish navy at Manila Bay, but President McKinley wanted boots on the ground. Patrick Henry Frank's country was seeking its manifest destiny further west than America had ever moved. Through a riveting narrative history, author John Russell Frank chronicles the events of his family's half-century on America's frontier in the Philippineswar, adventure, colonialism, the heartbreaking deaths of family members, businesses ravaged by WW II, and internment in brutal Japanese prison camps. It is an epic story about his familys triumph and tragedy in a strange land, a story of how they came to absorb and become a part of another culture. The narrative flows from a substantial amount of intimate archival material: historically rich letters, war diaries, photographs, memoirs, and oral and video histories from the familys experiences in the Philippines. He shares a way of life and a time-period unknown or forgotten by the present generationpivotal years of America's past. In the process, the author discovers his own roots.
In one of Jim Harrison’s greatest works, five members of the Northridge family narrate the tangled epic of their history on the Nebraska plains. The Road Home continues the story of the captivating heroine Dalva and her peculiar and remarkable family. It encompasses the voices of Dalva’s grandfather John Northridge, the austere, hard-living half-Sioux patriarch; Naomi, the widow of his favorite son and namesake; Paul, the first Northridge son, who lived in the shadow of his brother; and Nelse, the son taken from Dalva at birth, who now has returned to find her. It is haunted by the hovering spirits of the father and the lover Dalva lost to this country’s wars. It is a family history drenched in suffering and joy, imbued with fierce independence and love, rooted in the Nebraska soil, and intertwined with the destiny of whites and native Americans in the American West. Epic in scope, stretching from the close of the nineteenth century to the present day, The Road Home is a stunning and trenchant novel, written with the humor, humanity, and inimitable evocation of the American spirit that have delighted Jim Harrison’s legion of fans. “A graceful novel . . . To read this book is to feel the luminosity of nature in one’s own being.” —The New York Times Book Review “The Road Home confirms what his longtime fans already know: Harrison is on the short list of American literary masters.” —The Denver Post “Demonstrates why [Harrison] is considered one of the best storytellers around.” —The Washington Post “The Road Home is Harrison at the peak of his powers, a splendid combined prequel and sequel . . . very much alive and probably his best novel.” —Boston Sunday Herald
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Richard Paul Evans, the dramatic conclusion in the riveting Broken Road trilogy—a powerful redemption story about finding happiness on a pilgrimage across iconic Route 66. Chicago celebrity and pitchman Charles James is supposed to be dead. Everyone believes he was killed in a fiery plane crash, a flight he narrowly missed. But thanks to that remarkable twist of fate, he’s very much alive and ready for a second chance at life and love. Escaping death has brought Charles some clarity: the money, the fame, the expensive cars; none of it brought him true joy or peace. The last time he was truly happy was when he was married to his ex-wife Monica, before their relationship was destroyed by his ambition and greed. In this final installment of the exciting and provocative series that began with The Broken Road and The Forgotten Road, Charles is still on his pilgrimage across the iconic Route 66. He intends to finish his trek from Amarillo to Santa Monica, despite learning that his ex-wife is now planning to marry another man. With the initial reason for his trip in jeopardy, he still has lessons to learn along the way before he discovers—and arrives at—his true destination.
Davies recounts these treacherous travels in a brisk and readable style . . . he has put history, sociology, politics, and human nature into well-tuned balance. The Boston Globe
"This novel is sure to join the rich canon of Southern literature." --Anna Jean Mayhew, author of The Dry Grass of August From Pushcart Prize nominee Danny Johnson comes a powerful, lyrical debut novel that explores race relations, first love, and coming-of-age in North Carolina in the 1950s and '60s. At eight years old, Raeford "Junebug" Hurley has known more than his share of hard lessons. After the sudden death of his parents, he goes to live with his grandparents on a farm surrounded by tobacco fields and lonesome woods. There he meets Fancy Stroud and her twin brother, Lightning, the children of black sharecroppers on a neighboring farm. As years pass, the friendship between Junebug and bright, compassionate Fancy takes on a deeper intensity. Junebug, aware of all the ways in which he and Fancy are more alike than different, habitually bucks against the casual bigotry that surrounds them--dangerous in a community ruled by the Klan. On the brink of adulthood, Junebug is drawn into a moneymaking scheme that goes awry--and leaves him with a dark secret he must keep from those he loves. And as Fancy, tired of saying yes'um and living scared, tries to find her place in the world, Junebug embarks on a journey that will take him through loss and war toward a hard-won understanding. At once tender and unflinching, The Last Road Home delves deep into the gritty, violent realities of the South's turbulent past, yet evokes the universal hunger for belonging. Advance praise for The Last Road Home "In this intense and well?written debut novel, Danny Johnson probes deep into the cauldron of racial relations in the 1960's South. The Last Road Home introduces an exciting new voice in Southern Literature." --Ron Rash, author of Above the Waterfall "In The Last Road Home, Danny Johnson evokes a South that in many ways may be gone, thank the Lord. Yet Johnson's compelling and heartfelt rendering of Junebug and Fancy couldn't be more charged and alive. The long dramatic arc of their deep and ever evolving relationship traces a time and a place giving way to change in violent fits and starts. Yet this is no sociological treatise. It's a flesh and blood story about two people, who risk just about everything time and time again, for nothing more and nothing less than to love each other." --Tommy Hays, author of In The Family Way "The Last Road Home took me straight into the heart of a wounded boy who becomes a complicated man. By the end of this stunning novel, I felt I'd come to understand humans better than I had before, how we come to be the way we are: tender and full of fury. I don't recall having such a reaction to a novel. Author Danny Johnson shrinks from nothing. I say: read it!" --Peggy Payne, author of Cobalt Blue "Johnson's moving novel beautifully portrays the ways in which his young characters struggle to overcome the history that has so fully shaped their lives." --John Gregory Brown, author of Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery
Rebecca, a young nurse stationed in Vietnam during the war, must come to grips with her wartime experiences once she returns home to the United States.
In a novel set in an indefinite, futuristic, post-apocalyptic world, a father and his young son make their way through the ruins of a devastated American landscape, struggling to survive and preserve the last remnants of their own humanity
Featuring powerful portraits and beautiful colour images with poignant and often humorous interviews, this is a contemporary portrait of America's first highway. It documents how the heritage of Route 66 is reflected in the current conditions and rhythms of life and portrays a fresh spin on local folklore and Americana.
A heartwrenching YA coming of age story about three siblings on a roadtrip in search of healing. With a strong family, the best friend a guy could ask for, and a budding romance with the girl of his dreams, life shows promise for Teodoro “T” Avila. But he takes some hard hits the summer before senior year when his nearly perfect brother, Manny, returns from a tour in Iraq with a devastating case of PTSD. In a desperate effort to save Manny from himself and pull their family back together, T’s fiery sister, Xochitl, hoodwinks her brothers into a cathartic road trip. Told through T’s honest voice, this is a candid exploration of mental illness, socioeconomic pressures, and the many inescapable highs and lows that come with growing up—including falling in love. Christy Ottaviano Books
Debbie Wilson is thirty-one years old. Her days are full of the joys and obstacles familiar to so many navigating the American Dream. Married to a naval officer who is contemplating a new career, she is the devoted mother to two young boys, and in her final college semester training to be a middle school teacher. Her life is unfolding largely as planned. One morning while in the shower, her soapy fingers discover a marble-sized, tumor on her left breast. At that moment, Debbie and her family are thrust onto an unexpected journey that tests their love, faith, and resolution as she battles one manifestation of cancer after another-including one of the rarest forms of cancer in the world. Over the years, doctor after doctor informs Debbie she is out of options, but each time love and faith find a way. Her incredible story spreads by word of mouth making her a go-to resource and inspiration to countless people facing their own battles. Decades after this miracle love story began, their incredible journey is finally in print. Gripping, humorous, heartbreaking and inspiring, this memoir of faith and family tells the true story of how hardship can strengthen-not destroy-a family. Book jacket.
