The river warren

by Kent Meyers

When Two-Speed Crandall crashes a semi-trailer of someone else's cattle in downtown Cloten, killing himself and his wife in the process, he unleashes the entire town's gossip, half-truths, and memories. At the center of it all are Luke Crandall, Two-Speed's son, and Luke's best friend from his teenage years, Jeff Gruber. As they try to untangle their families' painful and intertwined pasts, they also must face their own lives honestly for the first time. Orbiting around them are Angel Finn, avuncular night fisherman; Arlene Schuh, the town gossip who knows more than she's telling; Ellen, the woman they both love; Pop Bottle Pete, the retarded boy-man; and the ghosts who are as present as any of the living characters.