By Wally Lamb

This is Wally Lamb's third, and I think his best, novel.  Lamb's previous books are She's Come Undone, and I know This Much is True.  The story begins in 1998 with Caelum and Maureen Quirk moving to Littleton, Colorado, and starting their jobs at Columbine High School.  In late April of 1999 Caelum is called back to the family farm in Connecticut because of a family emergency.  Meanwhile, back in Littleton, Maureen's life and the lives of many others will be changed forever by the murderous rampage carried out by two teenage boys.  In an effort to cope with Maureen's post-traumatic stress disorder, they move back to the farm in Connecticut.  While on the farm, Caelum discovers many hidden family secrets.  This story is epic in its scope. The reader is taken on a journey through the past, from the Civil war to more recent troubles--the Korean War, events at Columbine, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war.  Caelum is on a mythical quest, and the reader is swept right along with him.                                                   

   . . . Reviewed by Ann Reierson