Genre Fiction
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Legends of the North Cascades
"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.
-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.
Editorial Reviews
"What a great storyteller [Evison] is . . . After exploring themes of what it is to be human, this tale has a very satisfying ending."
-San Diego Tribune
"Evison's majestic and panoramic latest conjures the beauty, power, and unforgiving nature of the Cascade Mountains in alternating narratives separated by thousands of years. Evison masterfully delivers a subtle yet pointed commentary on how society marginalizes veterans and how we profess to admire yet distrust the individualist ethos while also offering a profound meditation on the human spirit."
-Booklist, starred review
"Only a writer of Evison's talent could so brilliantly weave the struggles of a PTSD-stricken veteran and the ghosts of an ancient family into such a powerful social commentary. Wildly original and breathtakingly big-hearted."
-Willy Vlautin, author of Don't Skip Out on Me
"Engaging . . . This modern back-to-the-land story feels like John Krakauer's Into the Wild meets Jean M. Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear, a combination that makes for a compelling read in its appreciation of the monumental properties of nature and recognition of the history of humans in the North Cascades."
-Library Journal
"Under the daunting and impassive mountains of the title, two dramas, one ancient and one contemporary, intertwine to become a greater story of parent and child attempting to survive in the harshest of circumstances. For me, the heart of this fine novel is Bella, a young heroine whose courage and steadfastness are a timely reminder of how human decency can prevail in the darkest of situations."
-Ron Rash, author of Serena and In the Valley
"Evison weaves the prehistoric past and the troubled present together with imagination and tenderness in this haunting, timely meditation on the redemptive power of love."
-Hillary Jordan, author of Mudbound
"Jonathan Evison's Legends of the North Cascades is a beautifully rendered and cinematic portrait of a place and its evolution through time; it is also-pure and simple-a story of survival and the love and devotion between parent and child."
-Jill McCorkle, author of Hieroglyphics
"Evison (Lawn Boy) delivers an intimate . . . story of grief and parenthood with characters from two distant millennia . . . Evison's empathetic vision offers much to consider about the limits of parental authority and the capacity for both physical and emotional survival."
-Publishers Weekly
-San Diego Tribune
"Evison's majestic and panoramic latest conjures the beauty, power, and unforgiving nature of the Cascade Mountains in alternating narratives separated by thousands of years. Evison masterfully delivers a subtle yet pointed commentary on how society marginalizes veterans and how we profess to admire yet distrust the individualist ethos while also offering a profound meditation on the human spirit."
-Booklist, starred review
"Only a writer of Evison's talent could so brilliantly weave the struggles of a PTSD-stricken veteran and the ghosts of an ancient family into such a powerful social commentary. Wildly original and breathtakingly big-hearted."
-Willy Vlautin, author of Don't Skip Out on Me
"Engaging . . . This modern back-to-the-land story feels like John Krakauer's Into the Wild meets Jean M. Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear, a combination that makes for a compelling read in its appreciation of the monumental properties of nature and recognition of the history of humans in the North Cascades."
-Library Journal
"Under the daunting and impassive mountains of the title, two dramas, one ancient and one contemporary, intertwine to become a greater story of parent and child attempting to survive in the harshest of circumstances. For me, the heart of this fine novel is Bella, a young heroine whose courage and steadfastness are a timely reminder of how human decency can prevail in the darkest of situations."
-Ron Rash, author of Serena and In the Valley
"Evison weaves the prehistoric past and the troubled present together with imagination and tenderness in this haunting, timely meditation on the redemptive power of love."
-Hillary Jordan, author of Mudbound
"Jonathan Evison's Legends of the North Cascades is a beautifully rendered and cinematic portrait of a place and its evolution through time; it is also-pure and simple-a story of survival and the love and devotion between parent and child."
-Jill McCorkle, author of Hieroglyphics
"Evison (Lawn Boy) delivers an intimate . . . story of grief and parenthood with characters from two distant millennia . . . Evison's empathetic vision offers much to consider about the limits of parental authority and the capacity for both physical and emotional survival."
-Publishers Weekly
Readers Top Reviews
Kalie MillerHopeJ
The title was so intriguing that I just had to read it, but it ended up being very predictable and easy reading. I kept reading in hopes that something exciting would happen, but sadly it never happened. Not sure I’d recommend this book to my friends.
Harlan V. Demuth
Reviews are hard for me, but these characters are compelling and completely relatable because JE has a extraordinary ability to tease out the right words, lines and emotions to express their basic desires, pain, and hopes. Lawn Boy did that, but Legends of the North Cascades is transcedent. .
charliesheldon2ch
I pre-ordered this tale and was delighted when it arrived and I could get into it. It's a deep, gnarley story about a troubled adult, his young daughter, and their extended family, set in the North Cascades, much of it deep in the mountains, and even including a magic realism period in the distant past. Evison writes as well as anyone about the internal battles each of us face. In this case he matches the wilderness of his character's minds with the actual wilderness within which they must survive. This is a dark tale but ultimately a captivating and incredibly hopeful tale.
Jan Kristoffer Da
In the town of Vigilante Falls, WA, Dave Cartwright, also known among the locals as "Cave Dave", and his daughter Bella, are legends. Three tours of Iraq has left Dave traumatized and desillutioned. While struggling to cope and readjust to everyday life in Vigilante Falls Dave's wife dies in a car crash. Stricken by grief and an already waning belief in both his country and society at large, Dave retreats into the Cascades. Against protests from his remaining family Dave even brings Bella and together they set up camp in a cave. The mountains shelter and isolates them. Weeks streatches into months and while Dave slips further into despair and depression Bella starts having visions of a mother and her child living in the icy mountains during Paleolithic times. These parallel storylines gives the novel a heartbreaking and epic dimention. As Bella and Dave's abandonment of society keeps taking several dramatic turns so does the lives of their prehistoric counterparts. Sprinkled throughout the book are also heresay, gossip and actual facts lifted from what appears to be interviews with the townspeople of Vigilante Falls. The school kids even have a song made up about Dave - "Cave Dave". This might sound unwieldy and unfocused but both the prehistoric visions and the interviews help strenghten the novels thesis. In the end "Legends of The North Cascades" is a story about love; about the love between parent and child but also the love that has sustained us as a people throughout history. A beautiful and ambitious novel. And arguebly one of Evison's best - that's saying a lot!
David CohenJan Kr
Great portrait of a troubled vet and his daughter moving off the grid and the consequences. Bold device was a parallel story of the same area of northern Washington from the Ice Age, which worked quite well. Story is thrilling but the interior life of the characters makes this a wonderful read.
