Breathing Lake Superior
Overcome with grief following the death of his youngest child, Cal Franklin uproots his wife and teenaged children to a ramshackle subsistence farm in far northern Wisconsin. Withdrawn and estranged from all they know, JJ and her stepbrother, John, struggle to adapt to life off the grid and to Cal's increasingly erratic behavior. Without electricity or even running water, the family suffers a series of calamities until Cal feels a call to preach. He builds a small log church on the property, and his unconventional message soon attracts a following. When elderly locals profess to be healed by the touch of Cal's hands, word spreads, and desperate people descend on the church from across the country. Though overwhelmed and doubtful of his powers, in a final act of love and faith, Cal seeks to raise his young son from the dead.
Narrated by Cal's stepson, John-named for "the chronicler of Christ's miracles"-Breathing Lake Superior is a poignant exploration of the mystic borderland where the mental strain of overwhelming grief becomes entangled with the promise and hope of ecstatic faith.
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"In Ron Rindo's gripping novel Breathing Lake Superior, a grieving man goes on a troubled religious odyssey. . . . Amid wondrous descriptions of rural, seasonal beauty, the novel Breathing Lake Superior examines moments of intimacy, love, and humor against a formidable biblical background."
-Meg Nola, Foreword Reviews (September / October 2022)"Ronald Rindo's novel marks a very welcome addition to Wisconsin literature. Everything is here that you could want, love, loss, faith, doubt, joy, despair, plus the miracles of a faith healer-all set in an area of the state Rindo knows well."
-Anthony Bukoski, author of The Blondes of Wisconsin"We turn the pages of Breathing Lake Superior thrilled and suspended, and come away from them steeped in story, owned by rare wisdom. If there really is a Thin Place, where the earth gives way to its own mysticism, then to read Ron Rindo is to open a door that will lead you to it."
-Abby Frucht, author of Are You Mine?"Set against the unforgiving backdrop of northern Wisconsin, Breathing Lake Superior explores the extraordinary depths of grief, love, and the astonishing power of magical thinking. Debut author Ron Rindo expertly narrates the stunning transformation of a Midwestern father into a self-proclaimed messiah through the eyes of his teen stepson, John. A new literary voice that exquisitely augments the Midwestern fiction genre."
-Eldonna Edwards, award-winning author of This I Know"Breathing Lake Superior is a masterpiece of dramatic tension about the destruction and resurrection of a family. . . . a timely story, full of vivid imagery and unforgettable characters-a tragedy in a beautiful landscape. . . . Evocative, poetic description captures human emotion and landscape throughout the novel."
-Ruth Latta, Compulsive Reader
