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Alone on the Shield
Alone on the Shield

Alone on the Shield

A Novel

FICTION

384 Pages, 5.5 x 8.5

Formats: Trade Paper

Trade Paper, $15.99 (US $15.99) (CA $21.99)

Publication Date: November 2017

ISBN 9781613739914

Rights: WOR

Chicago Review Press (Nov 2017)
Academy Chicago Publishers

Price: $15.99
 
 

Overview

I hope you get drafted, I hope you go to Vietnam, I hope you get shot, and I hope you die there. Those words, spoken in the anger of youth, marked the end of the torrid 1960s college romance of Annette DuBose and Gabe Pender. She would marry a fellow antiwar activist and end up immigrating to Canada. He would fight in Vietnam and come home to build an American dream kind of life—a great career, a trophy wife, and a life of wealth and privilege. Forty years later, they have reconnected and discovered a shared passion: solo canoeing in Ontario’s raw Quetico wilderness. They decide to meet again to get caught up on old times, but not in a restaurant or coffee shop—they agree to meet on an island deep in the Quetico wilds. Though they try to control their expectations for the rendezvous, they both approach the island with a growing realization of the emotional void in their lives and wonder how different everything might have been if they had spent their lives together. They must overcome challenges just to reach the island, then encounter the greatest challenges of all—each other, and a weather event for the ages. Alone on the Shield is a story about the Vietnam war and the things that connect us. It is the story of aging Baby Boomers, of the rare kinds of people who paddle alone into the wilderness, and of the kind of adventure that comes only to the bold and the brave.

Reviews

Alone on the Shield is a brilliant, hard look into the mirror of our pasts in which our new, ideal selves break free from their old molds and casts. Landers’s powerful, sweeping journey into the Canadian wilderness takes readers through trials of self-reflection, endurance, and discovery to find what matters most in life—loves, hatreds, and ideal selves. A true joy to read.” —Ross Ritchell, author of The Knife


“Kirk Landers has written a kind of Deliverance set in the wilderness of Canada, though instead of hillbilly horror, the memorable heroes of this novel—a man and woman rediscovering love in late middle age—confront demons of their own making. Rich in suspense, place, and character.” —Lin Enger, author of The High Divide and Undiscovered Country


"Debut novelist Landers clearly knows and loves the Boundary Waters, and he admirably captures the drama and beauty of the wild landscape."—Kirkus Reviews


"Alone on the Shield is tense and dramatic, absorbing from beginning to end, one of those precious tales that manages to be both a page-turner and a thoughtful novel of great depth and resonance."—Booklist


"A compelling mixture of adventure and romance, Alone on the Shield is a tightly focused novel that deftly speaks to growing older and the struggle for understanding."—ForeWord Magazine


Alone on the Shield. . . engaged me from cover to cover with relatable characters, balanced conflicts, picturesque descriptions and more.” —Boomer Magazine


“ALONE ON THE SHIELD by Kirk Landers is the perfect way to experience an imaginative travel adventure with some exciting anticipation to rile things up a bit.”—The Zest Quest

Author Biography

Kirk Landers launched his professional writing career in the US Army, later entering the special-interest and trade magazine worlds. His magazines won more than 100 awards for journalistic excellence, and he is a member of the Construction Writers Hall of Fame. He lives in the suburbs of Chicago.