"June 2015 Indie Next Selection""National Bestseller in Canada""Nominated for 2015 Forest of Reading Evergreen Award" Franklin Starlight s comfort in solitude and his skills for surviving in the wilderness make him appear wise beyond his sixteen years. But when his ailing father, Eldon, summons him back to town, Frank s sense of duty clashes with the deep resentment he feels at his father s absence and neglect. Finding Eldon near death after years of drinking, he grudgingly agrees to help carry out his father s final wish. They set out on horseback into the mountainous backcountry, where Eldon can die and be buried in the warrior way. A difficult ride deepens in significance as Eldon tells his storyfrom an impoverished childhood to his shell-shocked return from combat in the Korean War. But along with these desolate moments, Eldon shares his life s fleeting but nonetheless crucial moments of happiness and hope. As Franklin Starlight takes the full measure of his father s life, he reckons more fully with his own, laying claim to the fullness of a history only now revealed to him. Written in clear, luminous prose, and infused by an uncommonly rich sense of place, this extraordinary novel will establish Richard Wagamese in his rightful place as one of North America s great novelists.

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