The Chimney Still Stands Book

A dying man, returning to his childhood home, must relive a past that has cost him everything in order to find the peace and forgiveness he desperately needs.

1970
Tandon Bowman, newly promoted as manager of a survey team for the National Park Service, is told his new job is to go to the one place he had tried hard to stay away from - Jasper, Arkansas. It is to be his job to help the distraught landowners along the Buffalo River understand why they will lose their land to the nationalizing of the river.

JulieAnn Peterson, editor of the local newspaper, while always wishing her old high school sweetheart would return, is stunned that evening at the town meeting when she sees Tandon standing there before the podium.

Knowing that Tandon works for the very government that is taking homes and land from the ones he loves would put a strain on any relationship. But will it stand in the way of healing an old rift between he and his father? Will it ruin his chance to be with the only woman he has ever loved? Or will giving up his dream job be his only chance at real happiness?