Charlie Quimby is a songwriter, playwright and journalist. Monument Road is his debut novel, and it's a beauty.
Leonard Self's beloved wife, Inetta, has died of cancer; she made him promise that, a year and a day after her cremation, he would take her ashes to Artists Point, her favorite overlook, and scatter them to the wind. He is doing that today, and has decided to throw himself off with her.
For a year, he has been making arrangements for the truck, the dog, the 260 acres of Colorado that he has known forever. Leonard has become reclusive since Inetta's passing. Those who know him, however, are vigilant and caring. When he drops off the dog with one of Inetta's friends, she becomes suspicious.
In gorgeous prose, perfect for the mood of the story, Quimby takes us on this sad pilgrimage with Leonard, showing us all the lives that Leonard has touched. Leonard and Inetta took in boys who needed a place to work and sort out what was next. Inetta's brother, Elliott, was one. Noticing he had been in a fight, Leonard pointed this out to Inetta. "He's been in a lot of fights," she said quietly. "And he always will. He's going to play too large for a small town." She left Leonard to figure out that enigmatic statement--and we find out much later what she meant.
By story's end, we have come to care immensely about this taciturn, withdrawn man who has spent the past year trying to stave off "the darkening." Monument Road is rich with landscape, character and event. --Valerie Ryan, Cannon Beach Book Company, Ore.