Ballistics : a novel

It is summer and the Canadian Rockies are on fire. Fleeing the fallout of a relationship gone wrong, Alan West returns to the small town in the valley where he grew up. There, his grandfather, Cecil, suffers a heart attack and gives him one last task: he must track down the father he's never known, so that Cecil can make his peace. And so Alan begins his search for the elusive Jack West, a man who skipped town decades earlier and of whom Cecil has always refused to speak. The quest will lead him to Archer, an old American soldier who went AWOL into Canada at the apex of the Vietnam War. Archer has been carrying a heavy burden for many years, and through him Alan learns the stories of Jack, of Cecil, and of Archer's own daughter Linnea - a woman inextricably bound to them all. Together, at the behest of a dying man, they set off on a reckless journey through the burning mountains and, slowly, they unravel the knots of the past. What they find will change all of their lives for ever "It is summer and the Canadian Rockies are on fire. As the forests blaze, Alan West heads into their shadows, returning from university to his grandfather's home in the remote Kootenay Valley, where the man who raised him has suffered a heart attack. Confronting his own mortality, the tough and taciturn Cecil West has a dying request for his grandson: track down the father Alan has never known so that the old man can make peace with him. And so Alan begins his search for the elusive Jack West, a man who skipped town before his son could walk and of whom his grandfather has always refused to speak. His quest will lead him to Archer, an old American soldier who decades ago went AWOL across the border into Canada. Archer has been carrying a heavy burden for many years, and through him Alan learns the stories of two broken families who came together, got too close, and then fell apart in tragic ways. Ballistics is a remarkable first novel, about family ties and the wounds that can linger for generations when those relationships are betrayed"-- Provided by publisher ___________________ Selected as one of The Waterstones Eleven, for the best fiction debuts of 2013, Ballistics is a tender, powerful and brilliantly written novel of fathers and sons, vengeance and forgiveness, by the winner of the BBC National Short Story Award 'A lean, powerful book about quiet, emotional people' Guardian 'Bracing, even breathtaking' New Statesman It is summer and the Canadian Rockies are on fire. Fleeing the fallout of a failed relationship, Alan West returns to his grandfather's home in the Kootenay Valley. Cecil West, an old man confronted by his own mortality, asks Alan to track down his son, Alan's father, so that Cecil can make his peace with him. And so Alan begins his search for Jack West: a man who skipped town before Alan could walk. His quest will lead him to Archer, an American soldier who long ago went AWOL across the border. The young man and the old soldier set off on a reckless journey. What they find will change their lives forever.