Season of Water and Ice - Softcover

Donald Lystra

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0875806287 ISBN 13: 9780875806280

Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press, 2009

Synopsis

• Winner of the Midwest Book Award for fiction
• Named a Michigan Notable Book for 2010 by the Library of Michigan

SEASON OF WATER AND ICE is the unforgettable story of two young people confronting life during a tumultuous few months of 1957. In quiet but searing prose, it explores the timeless issues of love and family, the destructive forces to which these ideals are exposed, and the healing powers which can restore them.

Danny DeWitt, fourteen, lives with his father in a rural area of northern Michigan following the family's abrupt move from the city and the unexplained departure of his mother. Bookish and friendless---and wanting to "stand by the side of things for a while"---Danny becomes acquainted with Amber Dwyer, a pregnant teenager abandoned by her boyfriend and rejected by her family and community. Both outsiders---one by choice, the other from social stigma---Danny and Amber form an unusual, openhearted alliance which helps each to deal with their separate challenge. Amber must build a life for herself in the face of intolerance, and Danny must come to terms with his mother's rejection and his father's growing isolation. The friendship is tested when Amber's abusive boyfriend returns and Danny's mother draws further away, leading to a crisis which threatens Amber and her unborn child, as well as Danny's conception of love and manhood.

Reflecting the political and social climate of the 1950s, SEASON OF WATER AND ICE is underscored by themes of independence and obligation, love and sexuality, courage and surrender. It's a story that you will not forget.

About this title

Book Description:

1950s rural northern Michigan coming-of-age tale

From the Author:

Most people think of the 1950s as a time of blandness and conformity, but my recollection is that it was far more interesting than that; full of cross currents and struggles and doubts. Certainly that was true if you were a young person then. The country was in the aftermath of two great traumas, the Depression and the Second World War, and it was in the early years of the nuclear age. People have forgotten, but the prospect of nuclear annihilation was very much on peoples' minds. In the face of all of that, I think there was a desire to make everything seem normal, even if it could only look that way on the surface. But underneath---in peoples' lives---there was much ferment and struggle.

So I was just trying to tell an honest story about people and a time I cared very much about---because it was my own time and my own people, I suppose. And in the process I hoped to say something true about human beings and their relationships and life in general."

About this edition

• Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0875806287
• ISBN 13: 9780875806280
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 251