Böcker av Craig Lancaster

From acclaimed author Craig Lancaster, a two-time High Plains Book Award winner, comes a story of family violence, dysfunction, and, perhaps, redemption, told across four timelines.More than a decade into the 21st century, Nate Ray is down and in the final throes before he's out for good. He has burned through jobs and the goodwill of others, including his son, Brandon. When Nate's dad, Ronnie, summons him for a trip from Texas to Montana to bury Ronnie's sister, Nate's self-destruction is put on hold but new and long-simmering issues arise.Forty years earlier, in Wyoming, Electra Ray plots an escape to an uncertain future, for herself and her five-year-old son. A new friend awaits on the other end, three states away, but first Electra must break cleanly away from the bonds of a neglectful present.In 2002, recent high school graduate Cherie Bowden is helping her mother settle her grandma's estate in Billings, Montana, and is already deferring her own dreams. She discovers information that makes her question everything she thinks she knows about the people she comes from.And in early 1950s Montana, Ronnie Ray-sixteen years old, estranged from the father he barely knows, and on the run from an abusive home life-reaches faithfully toward a connection.In his latest novel, Lancaster, who has been hailed as "one of Montana's most important writers," goes deep into how history shapes and confines us and how hope sometimes stubbornly abides.

Max Wendt has a family . . . but it's sliding sideways, and he has been complicit in its faltering. His wife and his daughter have pulled away from him amid his frequent absences, leaving him to bridge the distance between what he remembers and the way things are now.Max Wendt has a job . . . but it carries him away from home most of the time, and its dynamics are quickly changing. There's a surprising new hire on his pipeline crew, strife among coworkers, and a boss whose proclivities put everything in peril.Max Wendt has a friend . . . but this odd man Max meets during his travels perplexes him, prods him, pushes him, and annoys him. He sees something in Max that Max can't see in himself, and he's holding tight to his own pain.Max Wendt has a problem . . . More than one, in fact, and those problems are flying at him with increasing velocity. Can someone who has spent his life going with the flow arrest his own destructive inertia, rebuild his relationships, and find a better way?

Is love a choice, or is it fate?Jo-Jo Middlebury is done with love. Linus Travers wants one more shot at it. Mr. Blue Sky, their 1970s-loving guardian angel, offers perspective on both when he's not busy diving into reruns of "Happy Days" and "Barney Miller."Linus can save Jo-Jo’s business, but Jo-Jo makes it clear that she needs no one to rescue her, least of all him. Add to that an ex-fiancé with a change of heart, a single mom who wants a good time, and a married couple who’ve blurred the boundaries of their respective friendships with Linus and Jo-Jo.All the while, Mr. Blue Sky observes, explains, and ever-so-gently interacts. Written by wife-husband novelists Elisa Lorello and Craig Lancaster, You, Me & Mr. Blue Sky is a warm-hearted, humorous dive into the depths of love and the mysteries of how two people find their way to each other.PRAISE FOR YOU, ME & MR. BLUE SKY“Authors Elisa Lorello and Craig Lancaster have crafted a charming update on the classic romantic comedy with You, Me & Mr. Blue Sky. Honest, heartwarming, and wickedly funny, this is one love story you won’t want to miss.”—Karen McQuestion, author of HELLO, LOVE“A romance that proceeds as a wonderful argument between two people who need some divine intervention to knock sense into their heads. A fun read from two terrific authors.”—Molly D. Campbell, two-time Erma Bombeck Prize winner and author of KEEP THE ENDS LOOSE and CROSSING THE STREET