Publishers Weekly
04/12/2021
Evison (Lawn Boy) delivers an intimate if uneven story of grief and parenthood with characters from two distant millennia. After onetime football hero Dave Cartwright returns to Vigilante Falls, Wash., from his third and worst tour in Iraq with the Marines, he struggles to reacquaint himself with civic and domestic life. The sudden death of his wife, Nadene, makes Dave ever more disillusioned, prompting him to uproot his seven-year-old daughter, Bella, to a cave in the Cascades. As days stretch to weeks and months and winter closes in, Bella starts having visions of the Paleolithic people who once populated the area. Chapters about an Ice Age mother and child alternate with Dave and Bella's increasingly perilous situation and with gossip about Dave conveyed through interstitial monologues from various folks back home. The parallel narratives of familial trust and parent-child conflicts among the ancient people and between Dave and Bella develop effectively in tandem, though the idea of some kind of psychic connection between this young girl and her Ice Age predecessors feels strained. Moreover, Evison's judgmental modern-day townspeople are unbelievably openhearted and endlessly forgiving, even after Dave's actions endanger Bella and others. Despite its faults, Evison's empathetic vision offers much to consider about the limits of parental authority and the capacity for both physical and emotional survival. (June)
From the Publisher
What a great storyteller [Evison] is . . . After exploring themes of what it is to be human, this tale has a very satisfying ending.” —San Diego Tribune “Evison’s majestic and panoramic latest conjures the beauty, power, and unforgiving nature of the Cascade Mountains in alternating narratives separated by thousands of years. Evison masterfully delivers a subtle yet pointed commentary on how society marginalizes veterans and how we profess to admire yet distrust the individualist ethos while also offering a profound meditation on the human spirit.” —Booklist, starred review “Only a writer of Evison’s talent could so brilliantly weave the struggles of a PTSD-stricken veteran and the ghosts of an ancient family into such a powerful social commentary. Wildly original and breathtakingly big-hearted.” —Willy Vlautin, author of Don’t Skip Out on Me “Engaging . . . This modern back-to-the-land story feels like John Krakauer’s Into the Wild meets Jean M. Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear, a combination that makes for a compelling read in its appreciation of the monumental properties of nature and recognition of the history of humans in the North Cascades.” —Library Journal “Under the daunting and impassive mountains of the title, two dramas, one ancient and one contemporary, intertwine to become a greater story of parent and child attempting to survive in the harshest of circumstances. For me, the heart of this fine novel is Bella, a young heroine whose courage and steadfastness are a timely reminder of how human decency can prevail in the darkest of situations.” —Ron Rash, author of Serena and In the Valley "Evison weaves the prehistoric past and the troubled present together with imagination and tenderness in this haunting, timely meditation on the redemptive power of love.” —Hillary Jordan, author of Mudbound “Jonathan Evison’s Legends of the North Cascades is a beautifully rendered and cinematic portrait of a place and its evolution through time; it is also—pure and simple—a story of survival and the love and devotion between parent and child.” —Jill McCorkle, author of Hieroglyphics “Evison (Lawn Boy) delivers an intimate . . . story of grief and parenthood with characters from two distant millennia . . . Evison's empathetic vision offers much to consider about the limits of parental authority and the capacity for both physical and emotional survival.” —Publishers Weekly
Library Journal
03/01/2021
This surprisingly engaging book from Evison (All About Lulu) focuses on two parallel story tracks. In the present, Dave is living in rural Whatcom County, WA, struggling to adjust after three tours of duty in Iraq and the resulting negative effects on his marriage and family. After his wife is killed in a traffic accident, Dave decides to head for the hills, taking with him his eight-year-old daughter Bella, and making a home for them in a cave in the Cascades. The narrative then branches into a separate story line, as dreamed by Bella, about a girl named St'ka who lives thousands of years in the past, during the Ice Age. Pregnant St'ka, with one male companion, leaves the main band of her people, to inhabit the very same cave Bella and Dave now live in. As Bella and Dave's story winds its way to a logical conclusion, with visits from concerned relatives and child protective services, St'ka's story evolves in tandem. VERDICT This modern back-to-the-land story feels like John Krakauer's Into the Wild meets Jean M. Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear, a combination that makes for a compelling read in its appreciation of the monumental properties of nature and recognition of the history of humans in the North Cascades.—Henry Bankhead, San Rafael P.L., CA
