Hold Fast

Hold Fast by Spencer K.M. Brown is a charming novel about a grieving widower and his grown son who has suffered losses of his own. They have come together to live, but are adrift and aimless in their home on the shores of Lake Superior. They each claim to be “holding fast,” meaning that they're doing okay, but in reality they're both sinking. Whether they'll be able to pull themselves together and recover from their losses is the book's central question. Brown's writing is excellent, and the reader feels real sympathy for both father and son as they work through their grief and also work on their relationship with each other. A fine plot element that is revealing of character is the arrival in the father's life of a young pregnant woman who needs shelter from an abusive domestic situation. Perhaps more important thematically is the project the father undertakes—he begins to build a boat that he intends to row across the lake. I savored the reading of this book because of the fine writing, until I neared the end and needed to know how the various conflicts would be resolved. Highly recommended. [The publisher provided a copy of this book for review.]