Terpsichores Children
by William Starr Moake
Category: Fiction

This novel follows the life of Tom Lawrence from his idyllic boyhood in rural Michigan to a soul-searching retreat three decades later in the Pacific Northwest. Along the way he explores the beatnik lifestyle of San Francisco, endures military service during the Vietnam War and makes two unforgettable friends. One is Karl Miller, a James Dean look-alike from his high school days. The other is Regis Sinclair, an iconoclastic soldier who reminds him of a satyr. Each chapter is a self-contained story focusing on their tumultuous relationships with women, seen metaphorically as dances. The settings shift from the darkness at the end of the tunnel in Vietnam to wild adventures in Hawaii, Mexico, and Alaska and a final reunion in the Florida Everglades. This is the story of three men who rebelled against social convention to find their own path in life