"Burning Fence" by Craig Lesley

How does a kid grow up without his father? And if that father disappears, how hard will the boy try to find him, once he has grown up?

Award-winning author Craig Lesley traces the breakup of his parent’s marriage to the post-war trauma which changed his father’s personality to the point that he simply left, saying, “I’m going to  get a flashlight.” Lesley grows up, becomes a professor, adopts a Native American son who suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, marries, fathers two daughters, and launches a writing career. 

But the curiosity about his father impels him to find Rudell, a hilariously plain-spoken man who builds the sturdiest fences ever seen in his part of the country.  They develop a relationship that is respectful of the distance Ruddell needs to have from his son and ex-wife, but allowing the joys of grandfatherhood, especially to Lesley’s oldest girl, born on her grandfather’s birthday and with a remarkable resemblance to him.

Lesley’s calm, gentle style lends itself to this tale of a son mending fence with his father.  Great reading!

- Lois