Chuck Schwerin. Ghosts of Glencoe. North Country Books, 2024. 472 pages.
I don’t usually recommend books here that are not about food politics. This one, a rare exception, has only the most tenuous connection to the theme of this blog.
It is set in a fictional location much like the North Country School, a boarding school for teenagers near Lake Placid and the Adirondacks. The school was one of the first to adopt an Edible Schoolyard project, still going strong.
I am making the exception because Chuck Schwerin is my next-door neighbor in Ithaca. I had no idea he was writing a novel. When he asked me to read the manuscript for a blurb, I didn’t know what to think. What if I hated it?
Fortunately, I did not. I could not put it down. It is one fabulous adventure story.
Here’s my blurb:
Ghosts of Glencoe is a thrillingly plotted, utterly authentic coming-of-age story of what we can all learn from wilderness, at any age. I cared what happened to these characters, and couldn’t stop reading until its most satisfying conclusion.
I’m not a mountain person but I know plenty of people who are.
They would rather be climbing peaks than doing anything else, regardless of weather, rocky terrain, or mortal danger.
This book captures that sense, through the actions of teachers and students at the fictional Glencoe school, all of them human in their own unique ways. You get to know these people well. You care about what they do, the decisions they make, and the consequences of their decisions.
It’s a terrific read—just the thing for a summer vacation.
Enjoy!