Why a Booktrail?
1990s: East of the Mountains is the tale of a solitary, 73-year-old Seattle widower who as a former heart surgeon is used to saving others lives. Now he must deal with his own.
East of the Mountains
What you need to know before your trail
Ben Givens – heart surgeon extraordinaire –
“When everything human was erased from existence except that narrow antiseptic window through which another’s heart could be manipulated–few were adroit as Dr. Givens.”
But now retired and lonely, Ben has been dealt a blow that even he cannot manipulate. He finds out that he has terminal cancer and so sets out on a journey – the last one he ever plans to take.
But as he makes this final trip, its the journeys he has taken up to this point that provide the stories and the anecdotes of a life well lived.
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
A sad journey indeed as one man heads out across the Cascades for a hunting trip all the while planning to take his own life once he reaches the high desert.
As he stumbles towards his final and devastating destination, he provides flashbacks to explain his life so far as he thinks of what he has done and where he has come from.
Washington
The place where he grew up and formed his earliest and some of his happiest memories. Apple Country sounds as sweet and as ripe as the fruit itself although he does talk of the sour moments as well. Life in short comes from here and the beginnings of Ben are here too.
Places of Apple Country include Wenatchee – Ellensburg and Cashmere
Italian Alps
A traumatic time but one which for reasons which become obvious later on, shapes his life and his vocation in life in particular. Ben serves in the war here and spends some very important parts of his life here which make him the man he is today.
The Columbia region
“They rode back all day to the Columbia, traversed it on the Colockum Ferry, and at dusk came into their orchard tired, on empty stomachs, their hats tipped back, to walk the horses between the rows of trees in a silent kind of processional, and Aidan ran his hands over limbs as he passed them with his horse behind him, the limbs trembling in the wake of his passing, and on, then, to the barn.”
The landscapes change and memories are formed and the person of Ben changes with it. this is the book where the landscapes reflect the thoughts and the nooks and crannies of someone’s life – of all of our lives – as we wander through life, scenery changes and makes impressions on us. we think we’re in control but nature really is.
Where Next?
