A woman stumbles upon a murder and solves a limnological mystery.
The Hours of Lead by Bruce Holbert
An artful western saga set in austere central and eastern Washington where towns were flooded for the good of all and human communion roiled with unspoken care.
Hope without cause is the last great mystery; it is beyond nature’s acceptance of what is and man’s reason to predict what will be and memory of what was. In the religious it is simply faith the absence of explanation and the proof of God, and a great comfort. In those uninclined to churches and good books, however, such hopes still occur, certainties born from fear, desperate, stubborn, full-pitched battles against truth and time. In Matt’s mind, too, such a force resided.
In November 1918 a severe snowstorm descends on the rugged lands girdling the Columbia River. Fourteen-year-old Matt survives, his twin and father do not. In search of his father’s body he traverses beyond familiar fields, finds companionship and love, but is beset by life-long social inelegance and stubbornness.
The novel examines the harsh realities of old-west life for the survivors. The legacy of endurance is a collection of physical and emotional scars. Heavily featured, the dramatic lands carved from an ancient flood mimic the events of the story: they are scabby and starkly beautiful. Holbert clearly knows and loves its geography.
The novel is exquisite American literature.
Geographical Link: Washington | Publisher: Counterpoint | Published: 2014
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