My newest book, The Road from Nowhere, has just been published by Scholastic. It has been touted as a different kind of Western, set in 1893 Colorado, right before the Great Silver Crash, which set off the first truly national economic depression. While it does portray many of the characteristics of the Old West, the book has most meaning to me as being about brothers and how their relationship evolves.
Brothers are something I know about.
My grandfather was considered by most to be an unusually sweet and kindly man. But he had a younger brother whom he always criticized and mocked for reasons I never understood, and that were never explained.
My father had an older brother — his parents’ favorite among five children — who, when still a young man, suddenly died of a stroke. That brother and his death left an enduring impression on my father, who constantly strove to take his place.
I have an older brother (by two years) with whom I share a complex relationship, sometimes close, sometimes contentious, and yet it is also a loving association.
My older sons, separated by three years, spent a lot of time actively disliking one another until, as adults, they became quite close and mutually supportive.
Then I had two stepsons, who were inseparable, until the older one died in an auto accident, a death that changed the younger one’s life in important ways.
In short, my knowledge of brothers and their complex relationships is very much part of my life. It is also the key aspect of The Road from Nowhere.
Ollie and Gus, older and younger brothers, live with their widowed mother in the tiny silver mining camp (population forty) of Gatchett’s Gulch in a remote part of Colorado’s high country. The uneducated life the boys lead is one of isolation and poverty. As Ollie says, “If nowhere was somewhere, that’s where we are.”
Though only thirteen, Ollie tries to take on the role of the “man of the family.” He is full of emotions and desires, the chief desire being a wish to go and live somewhere else. But he doesn’t know how to express or acknowledge his emotions — other than the wish to be rich — and to be in charge of his brother, Gus, who is eleven.
When the brothers and Alys (the only girl in town) stumble upon a cave that might contain silver, life suddenly holds the promise of change. It does, in fact, change when into camp comes an exploring geologist (Mr. Lake) who can read rocks, knows the rules and ways of prospecting, takes an interest in the kids and the boys’ mother. This all goes contrary to the desires of Elijah Gatchett, the man who created Gatchett’s Gulch, and who runs the camp like a dictator.
Yes, it’s an adventure story — with rattlesnakes, dangerous threats to life, the collapse of the silver industry, as well as being lost in a cave with no light, absolutely none. But I like to think that how Gus and Ollie navigate all these changes — and find new ways of being — is the core of The Road from Nowhere.
A most unusual road. And read.
1 thought on “The Road from Nowhere”
Your explanation of your newest novel intrigues me. As a female retired librarian and pre-published author of family secrets mysteries, I struggle with the voices of male middle graders. Thank you for all your stories inspiring me.