A car lies
at the bottom of an icy ravine. Slumped over the steering wheel, dead, is the
most critically acclaimed horror writer of his time. Was it an accident? His son Milo doesn't
care. For the first time in his life, he's free. No more nightmarish readings,
spooky animal rites, or moonlit visions of his father in the woods with a
notebook and vampire make-up. Or so he thinks.
Milo
settles into a quiet routine—constructing model Greek warships and at last
building a relationship
with his sister Klara, who's home after a failed marriage and brief career as
an English
teacher. Then Klara hires a gardener to breathe new life into their overgrown
estate. There's
something odd about him—something eerily reminiscent of their father's most
violent villain.
Or is Milo imagining things? He’s not sure. That all changes the day the
gardener discovers
something startling in the woods. Suddenly Milo is fighting for his life,
forced to confront
the power of fictional identity as he uncovers the shocking truth about his own dysfunctional family—and the supposed
accident that claimed his parents’ lives.
Michael Barsa grew up in a German-speaking
household in New Jersey and spoke no English until he went to school. So began
an epic struggle to master the American “R” and a lifelong fascination with
language. He’s lived on three continents and spent many summers in southern
Germany and southern Vermont.
He’s
worked as an award-winning grant writer, an English teacher, and an
environmental lawyer. He now teaches environmental and natural resources law.
His scholarly articles have appeared in several major law reviews, and his
writing on environmental policy has appeared in The Chicago Tribune and The
Chicago Sun-Times. His short fiction has appeared in Sequoia.
The Garden of Blue Roses is his first novel.
Food and Drink supplied.
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