A small Georgia town in 1938 is upended by a new teacher who takes her students in a new and eye-opening direction by introducing them to well, the world. Most townfolk are charmed, but not the KKK, who would prefer that she maintain the status quo. Well-written and captivating, I liked it so much I bought several for familiy members when I was halfway through.
As a lifetime risk taker, author Randall Sullivan decided in his seventh decade that the time was right to (try to) cross the Columbia River Bar. This confluence of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean has been the site of more shipwrecks than wrinkles on a 70 year old's face. He cajoled his old (and by "old" I mean longtime as well as also 70) friend Ray Thomas to accompany him on this--what shall we call it?--lark? suicide mission? voyage of self-discovery? Whatever the label, they were not only going to take on this devil in watery clothing but do it in a trimaran--one specially fitted with pedals, no less.
As the story for their prep and search for the "perfect day" (to die?) unfolds, it is interspersed alternately with tales of far more seaworthy ships going down in the same spot, over and over and over, and with the unfortunate bonding backstories of both men having been raised by abusive fathers. It becomes more and more clear that these two men had a history of taking on increasingly difficult challenges, maybe to erase the challenge that couldn't be conquered--their own painful childhoods.
If you like a true adventure story, tales of maritime derring-do (and death), and/or self-exploration, this book is a winner. And spoiler alert: they don't die.
Father: bus driver, fanatical history buff obsessed with the "bog people"--how they lived, and more pertinently, how some of them died. Can be unpredictable and volatile.
Mother: meek, submissive, doesn't rock the boat.
Silvie (daughter): teenage, yet dutiful, having been taught it's the better option.
Professor: obvious history lover, being swept away by the experience.
Peter, Dan: university students on this field trip. Like having a good time.
Molly: university student who is free-spirited, rebellious, confident.
This experiemental foray into living as the ancients did in northern England begins to become all too real as present blurs into past. The clash of the Silvie's naivete and the worldliness of the university students is blush-inducing and powerful. As the tension builds and the two elder men begin to reenact scenes from centuries ago, one wonders if everyone will be the same when they return home. Or will they return at all?
Creepy.
