"A beautifully rendered and cinematic portrait of a place and its
evolution through time . . . A story of survival and the love and
devotion between parent and child."
--Jill McCorkle, author of Hieroglyphics
Dave Cartwright used to be good at a lot of things: good with his hands,
good at solving problems, good at staying calm in a crisis. But on the
heels of his third tour in Iraq, the fabric of Dave's life has begun to
unravel. Gripped by PTSD, he finds himself losing his home, his wife,
his direction. Most days, his love for his seven-year-old daughter,
Bella, is the only thing keeping him going. When tragedy strikes, Dave
makes a dramatic decision: the two of them will flee their damaged
lives, heading off the grid to live in the wilderness of the Pacific
Northwest.
As they carve out a home in a cave in that harsh, breathtaking
landscape, echoes of its past begin to reach them. Bella retreats into
herself, absorbed by visions of a mother and son who lived in the cave
thousands of years earlier, at the end of the last ice age. Back in
town, Dave and Bella themselves are rapidly becoming the stuff of
legend--to all but those who would force them to return home.
As winter sweeps toward the North Cascades, past and present intertwine
into a timeless odyssey. Poignant and profound, Legends of the North
Cascades brings Jonathan Evison's trademark vibrant, honest voice to
bear on an expansive story that is at once a meditation on the perils of
isolation and an exploration of the ways that connection can save us.
