Bøger af David H. Roper

The Maine coast version of Where the Crawdads Sing.In the small village in Downeast Maine, the locals call him 'Tarzan, ' a strange acting teenager who has lived his whole life on remote Gadus Island. In 1967, when 18-year-old Cleo and her archeologist grandfather sail to Gadus in search of artifacts of the mysterious Red Paint People, Cleo encounters something much more alluring than relics: a bright, strikingly good looking, self-educated, but socially illiterate boy. Cleo learns that his squatter parents disappeared many months before, but he has told no one, fearful of being removed from his beloved island. Over the next three days as their worlds converge, his increasingly delusional behavior begins to frighten and then sadden Cleo. When she tries to help him cope, sharing the loss of her own mother, they come together in a way neither thought possible. But when he reveals a terrifying secret, Cleo is forced into a life-changing decision.

What do heroes look like? Certainly not like Big Red, a washed-up 290 pound Vietnam vet and ex-Mississippi River towboat pilot haunted by his past. There's no 'S' on his huge chest, no cape on his back. He's certainly no hero. Or is he? The answer is in his notebook. Penniless and cooped up in a Minnesota veterans' home by the banks of the Mississippi, he's lost everything but his riotous wit. He won't speak of his past with anyone. Instead, he writes in his notebook and stares out toward the River, wishing to once again 'drive through a bend on the Mighty Miss'. Enter Wihopa, aka Toddy, Red's nurse, a wise, nurturing and beautiful Lakota Sioux woman. She's dauntless, spiritual, has a wit to match Red's, and is a genius at transformational healing. Toddy grants Red his fervent wish, and together they head downriver on a tow. At day's end, trapped by a freak fall blizzard and hunkered down aboard his old houseboat, Cirrhosis of the River, Red learns from Toddy what being a hero really means, as she guides him back through the profound ethical choices of his past: from the horrors of Vietnam, to his bizarre confrontation with life, death, and the law, and finally to an astounding revelation.