Crossing Purgatory: A Novel
*Starred Review* The Purgatory (or Purgatoire) is a river in southern Colorado. The river and the title serve as a metaphor for the odyssey of Thompson Grey, a young Indiana farmer whose efforts to overcome his personal purgatory form the core of this beautifully written novel. In 1858 Grey returns home after an unexpectedly prolonged journey to his father’s Kentucky estate. He finds one son dead and his wife and other son in death throes, all from some form of prairie fever. Grey abandons his prosperous farm and begins walking west with his only goal to purge the demons of grief, guilt, and rage that torment him. As he moves west, Grey encounters a variety of circumstances and characters, including a sympathetic wagon master, abolitionists, and pro-slavery border ruffians in Kansas. Stopping in Colorado, his life becomes entwined with other families, each with their own secret sorrows, as they attempt to establish farms. Grey is forced to struggle with both his torments and his humane instincts as he seeks redemption. Schanbacher is a gifted writer whose prose is always elegant, whether describing the land, a winter storm, or the inner life of his characters. This is an intense and emotionally stirring saga. --Jay Freeman