Céline Vaillancourt saw the untamed forest in shades of apprehension. But Edmund, her 11-year-old son, was possessed of a different vision, as though he had put the very same brooding colors together and produced a painting shot through with adventure and the light of discovery. There was no talking to him. But talk no longer seemed to matter. Edmund was his father's son, stubborn and willful. His dog and the wild country beyond their orchard owned his heart. But now it was December, and cold. And neither dog nor boy were paying attention.
Céline would recall the orchard, the leaves just beginning to turn, and the sky still and blue and cold, the way it was in the waning days of fall before the arctic storms began roaring in off Superior. The silence. That was how it had been. The silence stuck in her head. She had not heard the shots.
Dave Carty’s
Leaves On Frozen Ground showcases a region I love — the Great Lakes — and does that beautifully. His characters leap off the page and into your heart within the first minutes. There’s suspense in the community and suspense in the fifteen year marriage of Celine and Gaston, which is explored honestly and tenderly. And with grit. Dog lovers, this book is especially for you and would make a great gift for the dog lovers in your life. I highly recommend this debut novel and look forward to his next!
Patricia Henley, author of HUMMINGBIRD HOUSE (National Book Award Nominee) and IN THE RIVER SWEET
In
Leaves on Frozen Ground, Dave Carty creates a fictional world that resonates with passion, sadness, and unexpected loss. His depictions of nature, family, and small-town life don’t just ring true, but are rendered in flawless prose and with a mastery of scenic construction that leave the reader tearfully in awe. I can’t wait to read Carty’s next novel. He’s a budding master of the form.
Toby Thompson, author of RIDING THE ROUGH STRING and METROLINER