First published 2017
Gus Orviston packs his gear and walks away from his fractured family to live by himself in a remote cabin. His parents and siblings drive him crazy with their constant arguing about fishing techniques and life philosophies. He wants to catch steelhead in the pristine rivers of the Pacific Northwest and figure out who he really is without their noise. Gus throws his line into the water day after day, learning the rhythms of the fish and the forest. The solitude he craved becomes something deeper as he encounters unexpected people and situations that challenge everything he thought he knew. His hunt for the perfect catch transforms into a search for meaning that strips away his assumptions about nature, love, and his place in the world. What started as an escape becomes a journey that rebuilds him from the inside out.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, adventure, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Pacific Northwest
Period: 20th-century
Audio CD · Little Brown and Company