End of Summer Book

When twelve-year-old Nick Harper loses his father in an automobile accident, he enters a period of mourning that threatens to engulf him. His mother, badly injured in the crash, lies comatose in their home. Nick finds some comfort in long talks he has with her, and while he is not sure she can actually hear him, he pours out his heart to her anyway. An aunt, to whom Nick feels no real closeness, comes to live with them. He talks as well with friends from his rural neighborhood, including a nearby farmer, the postman, and a girl Nick's own age on whom he has a crush, hoping one of them can help him understand why this terrible thing has happened. And then there are the voices. In the Ohio countryside where he lives there is an ancient Indian burial ground, and there Nick hears the whispers of those long dead, calling out to him. And it is there as well, after a hard rainfall, that he discovers another voice, one that rises from the ground, speaking to him out of a puddle. The voice is wise...reassuring... comforting...and familiar - could it be his father's voice? Gradually, through his talks with the puddle, Nick is able to begin the healing process and shake loose from the grip of the overwhelming sadness that has taken so firm a hold on his spirit.

Publishers Weekly

A daring portrait of a grief-stricken boy on the edge of madness, this first novel focuses on 12-year-old Ohio farm boy Nick Harper as he copes with anger, sorrow and hallucinations after his father dies when his truck skids off an icy road. Overwhelmed by the tragedy, Nick converses with the spirits of Erie Indians in an ancient burial ground they are said to haunt; these ghostly voices-which he later realizes are his own projections-tell of their tribe's genocidal extermination. Sinking deeper into fantasy, Nick spends months in the woods secretly conversing with a voice speaking from a puddle about the inevitability of death, the redeeming power of love, the interconnectedness of all life. Nick's mother, we learn, survived the crash but is comatose with grief, so his reclusive, alcoholic Aunt Justine has come to live with him. She informs Nick about his father's hippie past. Nick's cold psychologist urges him to let go of the voices, but this happens only in the shocking surprise ending, which brings a healing catharsis. This politically correct fable constantly manipulates the reader's emotions, yet as a precocious youth's exploration of whether life has meaning and of why good people suffer and die, it is sometimes piercingly moving. Audio rights to Simon & Schuster; film rights optioned by Paramount. (July)