num_pages: 11
description:  Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) Entry - this eBook is a sample of the first 3,000-5,000 words; it is not the full book. The ABNA contest is operated on Amazon.com only. Visit this entry on Amazon.com to leave customer feedback. To vote for the Grand Prize winner starting July 8, visit www.amazon.com/ABNA. In 1972, a hippie flushes a syringe of LSD down a toilet in Oakland and, thus, unintentionally sets in motion a chain of events that will profoundly affect ecosystems and communities thirty-five years later. The syringe finds its way across the Pacific Ocean and travels by fish and fowl, by boat and truck, to its final resting place in a marsh in central Bolivia. Along the way, trace vestiges of LSD clinging to the plastic take on super-potent homeopathic properties. Plant Teacher tells the stories of two expatriates living in La Paz, Bolivia whose lives are forever altered by this wayward piece of drug paraphernalia. Martin Banzer, a young man struggling since the death of his father, travels to La Paz to examine his past and come to terms with his loss. Cheryl Lewis, a recent graduate of the University of Virginia, arrives in the same city with a plan to forge her future. La Paz’s small expatriate community brings the two together and, as both wrestle with the demons of their poor decisions, they find common ground for friendship. While expertly steering its characters toward a shocking conclusion, this novel remains ever aware of its exotic setting. Plant Teacher takes its readers from Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable body of water in the world, to towering Andes peaks, ancient pre-Incan ruins, the sprawling metropolis of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and deep into Amazonian jungle. The narration reveals the machinations of an increasingly authoritarian government and shows glimpses of the lives of everyday Bolivians struggling to maintain a sense of normalcy even as their country teeters under the weight of civil unrest.
language: English
title: Plant Teacher - 2014 ABNA Entry
publisher: Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award