Synopsis
With over 10 million copies sold, bestselling author Robert James Waller returns with the haunting, evocative story of a small town, a beautiful and mysterious woman, and the man forever changed by both.
The wild places are where no one is looking anymore. Out there on the high plains, among the Sioux reservations and the silent buttes, among the small towns dying and the people with them, you can hear the wind. And on the back of the wind is the sound of an old accordion tangos mingling with the lonely thump of a single drum in the nighttime and a far-off warrior s cry. On the back of the wind is the smell of worn saddle leather and sawdust, of sandalwood, and smoke from ancient ceremonial fires. To this, to a town called Salamander, comes Carlisle McMillan, a traveler and master carpenter seeking a place of quiet amid the grinding roar of progress. Near Wolf Butte, a strange and apparently haunted monolith, he finds his quiet, or so he believes, and begins rebuilding a...
Library Journal
Waller here extends The Bridges of Madison County franchise by focusing on the son of photographer Robert Kincaid, the original book's protagonist. Master carpenter Carlisle McMillan is disgusted by the big-city developmental mind-set of forsaking quality for quantity to turn a quick buck; he becomes restless, traveling throughout America and settling at last in the small town of Salamander, SD, home to sacred Indian burial grounds and the striking and mysterious Susanna Benteen. Drawing on the caring craftsmanship instilled in him by his surrogate father, Cody Marx, McMillan transforms a ramshackle house into a home only to find himself fending off government plans to build a highway through his property. Waller's tale leisurely meanders through the various lives that McMillan touches with the requisite pulling of the heartstrings. The abrasive attitudes of the townsfolk-along with the corruption of local politicians and businesspeople-serve as a counterpoint to the apparently faultless McMillan. Pat as it is, this novel will be in demand owing to the popularity of Waller's previous Kincaid titles. Recommended for all popular fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/05.]-Joy St. John, Henderson Dist. P.L., NV Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.