UNDER COTTONWOODS
A Novel of Friendship, Fly Fishing, and Redemption
UNDER COTTONWOODS (The Lyons Press, February 2004) is a lyrical novel of two Wyoming friends who are drawn together by their love of fly-fishing and the outdoors. Walter is a handsome young man whose face and brain are scarred as a result of a climbing accident that has left him partially paralyzed and mentally diminished. Mike, who lost both of his parents when he was a young teen, is in his own way as damaged as Walter.
Mike seems at first to be the stronger one, admirably and compassionately lending a hand to an unfortunate friend. But it's soon clear that each is giving the other something priceless: the insight and courage to challenge the odds, embrace reality, and find a way to flourish and grow.
Through quiet times on pristine streams, dangerous times on angry rivers, and through blizzards, harassment in the local nightclub, the pains of opportunities lost, and the daily grind of a life of diminished expectations, Walter and Mike grow stronger as their friendship deepens. And through their friendship, they learn that there is life after tragedy.
