Dreams of Arcadia

Nate Holub is weary of his small-animal veterinary job in Houston. When he's offered a position as the second vet in the large-animal practice in his small hometown of Hadlow, Texas, he decides to make a change. He takes the job. Moves to the country. And proceeds to do a lot of second-guessing of his decision.

We meet a varied cast of characters as Nate encounters them. His cousin Wink in particular stands out, as it seems like he's got some kind of beef with Nate. Other standouts include Nate's laconic grandmother Viola, his reclusive cousin Tilly, and his partner (boss?) in the vet practice, Everett. They all bring a unique point of view to the story and add their own individual threads to this tapestry of family. I think Tilly was one of my favorites. She was such a surprising character that her interactions with Nate, though brief, really stood out in my mind. She illustrated how easy it is to lose connection with part of our family, whether through physical distance and the passage of time or through efforts made to create that distance.

The animal interactions in the story are vividly and effectively drawn, and you can tell Porter knows that of which he writes. I've heard this book likened to James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small. I've never read that book, but if it evokes the same feelings of compassion and connectedness with animals, I might like it, too. Some of the scenes involve surgery on animals and animal death, but they aren't thrown in for shock value. I imagine that's part and parcel of a veterinary practice. Nate himself struggles to handle it, and more than once questions whether he made the right decision coming back to Hadlow.

He also questions whether he's doing the right thing looking for information about his father's death. He knows there's more to the story than he was told, and his mother has long tried to keep that information from him. Memories come back to him in flashes, and as he digs, he learns more about what actually happened. But is this a path he should be taking, or would it have been better for everyone if he'd let past events lie?

At its heart, this is a story of family, their connections to each other, their connections to the land where generations have been born and raised. Nate thought he'd left his home place behind. In returning, he must decide whether to live focused on the past or whether it's time to plant his own roots there and give his daughters a foundation from which they can grow. It's not an action-packed story, although there are some moments of tension. Rather, it's a quiet, reflective tale that gives the reader space to consider their own family ties, how they might hinder and how they might help. It makes me miss my own growing up in the country, just a little. This is Brian Porter's first novel, but I sure hope it isn't his last. He's an author to watch.