This magnificent desolation

By Thomas O'Malley

Subjects: Veterans, Imagination in children, Minnesota, fiction, Vietnam War (1961-1975) fast (OCoLC)fst01431664, Imagination, Orphanages, Mothers and sons, Loneliness in children, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, New York Times reviewed, San francisco (calif.), fiction, Fiction, NEW LIST 20130531, Mothers and sons, fiction, Loss (Psychology) in children, Fiction, psychological, Veterans, fiction, Abandoned children

Description: Duncan's entire world is the orphanage where he lives, a solitary outpost in the snowy expanse of northern Minnesota. Aged ten, he cannot remember his life to this point, but he has stories that he recites like prayers: the story of how his mother brought him here during the worst blizzard of the century; the story of how God spoke to him at his birth and gave him a special purpose. Duncan is sure that his mother is dead until the day she turns up to claim him.