In 1886, Ulysses Pope leaves a note for his family at his small Minnesota farm explaining that he's going to find work, and then apparently disappears. His wife, Gretta, hears no news of him for months and becomes increasingly desperate as their finances worsen. When Gretta wakes up one morning to find her sons Eli and Danny have left, too, she has no choice but to set out in search of her missing family.
Unbeknownst to Gretta, Eli and Danny intercepted a letter from a woman out West, a woman who seems determined to make Ulysses her own. The boys jump trains heading toward Montana, but Gretta, clueless, decides to head for St. Paul, where she and Ulysses met. There, she uncovers Ulysses's history from before they were wed: the dark secrets that have haunted him for years and finally drove him away from his family and home. Scattered across the country, the four Popes face danger and uncertainty, and each will be forced to confront his or her own fears before all are reunited.
Lin Enger (Undiscovered Country) powerfully portrays Ulysses's quest for redemption--and the desperation that drives his wife and children to search for him. In emotional but careful terms, he paints a portrait of a family on the brink of collapse. The American West, with its miles of empty space, reflects both the barrenness of their memories and the wide possibilities of their future. The fate of the Pope family becomes intertwined with that of the West: this is a story of betrayal, destruction and forgiveness. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm