cover image  Legacy Road

Legacy Road

Graham Garrison. Kregel, $14.99 trade paper (256p) ISBN 978-0-8254-2671-1

Journalist Wes Watkins is on a roll. His career is taking off, he’s going back to school, and he’s about to propose to the love of his life, Emmy Stewart. When his stagey proposal flops, Wes’s world tilts. Emmy, a National Guard medic, is about to be deployed to Afghanistan. Wes’s mentor, Paul Gavin, persuades Wes to involve his estranged father, Ron, in a class Wes is taking on the Civil War; Ron, who had abandoned his family in favor of alcohol, has Civil War–era letters from a family ancestor. Wes naturally distrusts his father; Emmy has a secret in her past. When Wes finally reads a cache of letters Ron sent him as the younger man was growing up, other secrets emerge. Garrison (Hero’s Tribute) writes in the venerable tradition of Southern fiction, in which the ghosts of the past always play a role. The subtlety and pacing of the characters’ development is convincing. You don’t have to write about the Amish to edify; this is a breath of fresh air. Agent: Terry Burns, Hartline Literary Agency. (Apr.)