A rousing adventure yarn full of danger and heart and humor. -Richard RussoAn instant classic
for fans of Jane Smiley and Kitchens of the Great Midwest: when two hardscrabble young boys
think they've committed a crime they flee into the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Will the adults
trying to find and protect them reach them before it's too late?It's the summer of 1994 in
Claypot Wisconsin and the lives of ten-year-old Fischer Fish Branson and Dale Bread Breadwin
are shaped by the two fathers they don't talk about.One night tired of seeing his best friend
bruised and terrorized by his no-good dad Fish takes action. A gunshot rings out and the two
boys flee the scene believing themselves murderers. They head for the woods where they find
their way onto a raft but the natural terrors of Ironsforge gorge threaten to overwhelm
them.Four adults track them into the forest each one on a journey of his or her own. Fish's
mother Miranda a wisewoman full of fierce faith his granddad Teddy who knows the woods like
the back of his hand Tiffany a purple-haired gas station attendant and poet looking for
connection and Sheriff Cal who's having doubts about a life in law enforcement.The adults
track the boys toward the novel's heart-pounding climax on the edge of the gorge and a
conclusion that beautifully makes manifest the grace these characters find in the wilderness
and one another. This timeless story of loss hope and adventure runs like the river itself
amid the vividly rendered landscape of the Upper Midwest.
