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Malcolm Brooks follows up his bestselling debut novel, PAINTED HORSES, with CLOUDMAKER, a family saga set in 1937 Montana --- 10 years after Charles Lindbergh’s famous flight across the ocean, and as the world awaits word of Amelia Earhart’s fate.
Young Houston “Huck” Finn and his cousin, Annelise, are enthralled by both aviators, as they race to produce their own airplane before Huck’s parents discover it. While the elder Finns are hardworking traditionalists, the teens represent the forward-thinking America of invention and adventure. Those adventures, which include Yakima McKee, Huck’s father’s hired hand, revolve around building and flying the plane, and hiding a flight watch --- an invention of Lindbergh’s --- that Huck finds. It was on a dead gangster’s body that he and his friend came across while swimming in the local river. Naturally, the gangster’s cohorts will stop at nothing to get that watch back. But why?
"The book veers back and forth between the secular and the sacred, though it’s clear where Brooks’ sympathies lie."
The 450-page novel is narrated from the point of view of several characters, which adds perspective to the story while also making the plot lines harder to follow. Still, the protagonists are vividly portrayed. There’s 14-year-old Huck/Houston, who’s earnest and effortlessly brilliant; Annelise, who’s canny and plucky, with a reckless streak that caused her mother to banish her to her cousin’s place in Montana; and McKee, who has a wonderful backstory that gives him more gravitas than is immediately apparent. Huck’s father is indulgent but realistic, while his mother, Annelise’s aunt, lives by her religious convictions. The book veers back and forth between the secular and the sacred, though it’s clear where Brooks’ sympathies lie.
What’s less clear is where the reader’s focus should be. Is the story about the relationship between Huck and his family, or the significance of man’s desire to conquer the skies? And what about the gangsters, whose shenanigans take up much of the middle part of the novel? Or Huck’s love interest, who disappears more than halfway through the book? Or Annelise’s conquests?
At the end of CLOUDMAKER, when Annelise finds herself up in a plane on a life-or-death mission, the flight becomes a symbol of all the hope and mystery that each character lives with and for. Whether it’s enough to propel the reader through the preceding pages depends on one’s patience and belief.
Teaser
The summer of 1937 will be a turning point for 14-year-old Houston “Huck” Finn. When he and a friend find a dead body in a local creek, with a rare Lindbergh flight watch on its wrist, it seems like a sign. Huck is building his own airplane. That summer also marks the arrival of his cousin Annelise, sent to live with the family under mysterious circumstances. It turns out she has had flying lessons --- another sign. As Huck’s airplane takes shape, so does his burgeoning understanding of the world, including the battle over worldliness vs. godliness that has split Annelise from her family and, in a quieter way, divides Huck’s family. Meanwhile, there’s the matter of the watch, which the dead man’s cohort of bank robbers would very much like back.
Promo
The summer of 1937 will be a turning point for 14-year-old Houston “Huck” Finn. When he and a friend find a dead body in a local creek, with a rare Lindbergh flight watch on its wrist, it seems like a sign. Huck is building his own airplane. That summer also marks the arrival of his cousin Annelise, sent to live with the family under mysterious circumstances. It turns out she has had flying lessons --- another sign. As Huck’s airplane takes shape, so does his burgeoning understanding of the world, including the battle over worldliness vs. godliness that has split Annelise from her family and, in a quieter way, divides Huck’s family. Meanwhile, there’s the matter of the watch, which the dead man’s cohort of bank robbers would very much like back.
About the Book
From the nationally bestselling author of PAINTED HORSES, Malcolm Brooks returns with a soaring, spirited novel set during the summer of Amelia Earhart’s final flight --- a tale of American ingenuity and optimism set against the backdrop of a deepening Great Depression.
The summer of 1937 will be a turning point for 14-year-old Houston “Huck” Finn. When he and a friend find a dead body in a local creek, a rare Lindbergh flight watch on its wrist, it seems like a sign. Huck is building his own airplane, a fact he has concealed from his mother. That summer also marks the arrival of his cousin Annelise, sent to live with the family under mysterious circumstances. As it turns out, she has had flying lessons --- another sign. As Huck’s airplane takes shape, so does his burgeoning understanding of the world, including the battle over worldliness vs. godliness that has split Annelise from her family and, in a quieter way, divides Huck’s family too. And meanwhile, there’s the matter of the watch, which it turns out the dead man’s cohort of bank robbers would very much like back.
In Brooks’ trademark “lush, breathtaking prose” (San Francisco Chronicle on PAINTED HORSES) and with a winking nod to the Sam Clemens who inspired its hero’s nickname, CLOUDMAKER is a boisterous, heartfelt novel that brings to life the idealism, inventiveness, traditionalism and deep contradictions of the American spirit.
