Adirondack Summer, 1969

by Alan Proctor

For nearly two decades, Deidre Cravitz has managed a fine arts summer camp for creative children in the heart of upstate New York’s Adirondack Mountains. As the summer of 1969 approaches, however, disaster strikes. Just weeks before camp is scheduled to open, Deidre is killed in a car accident. Deidre’s husband, Myron, can’t bring himself to cancel his wife’s summer passion even though he’s totally ill-prepared to handle its demands by himself. His ignorance of camp supervision and the arrival of 80 children set the stage for a chaotic, sometimes hilarious, yet deadly summer.
Myron’s mental health declines. He is convinced his dead wife communicates with him during attacks of tinnitus – ringing in his ears. During these bouts, she urges him to pursue the “camp project” – erecting a 42 foot totem pole. His staff and campers regard the monument’s importance with skepticism, but Myron believes the structure will house Deidre’s spirit. Its erection before camp ends becomes his single, all-consuming obsession.
Adirondack Summer is a coming-of-age story and an account of passion’s varied strata: love lost, love found, friendship, lust, revenge, manslaughter, and renewal – all under the looming shadow of the impending totem pole. You’ll meet innocent children sent into the mountains to improve their artistic skills and who return wiser than their parents can imagine. You’ll encounter counselors who confront dead brothers, arson’s haunting history and the dicey choices an infamous war forces on the young. You’ll meet the town’s residents who, after the black fly-infested months of 1969, grapple with a redefinition of “summer camp” as they have come to know it, one that now includes unexpected fall-out that will last a generation.

360 pages, Paperback

First published June 25, 2013

Reviews

[DeniseLow DeniseLow · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This jewel of a novel...reminds readers of the vulnerability and gifts of summer.... I fell right into the characters, the setting and the drama..." Denise Low, author of Shadow Light (Red Mountain Press Award)

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing novel. I'll say that right off the bat. Regardless of your taste in literature, Adirondack Summer will capture you to the very end. The story is a very unique, yet quite relate-able picture of the summer of '69.The cast of characters is quite large, but within a few paragraphs, the reader will feel as though they've know these people for years.

It's a story of a man desperately trying to come to terms with an immense personal loss...while running a fine arts summer camp...during the height of Viet Nam. Yes, there's a lot going on here. Don't let the fairly small page count fool you, this is an extremely layered, textured, poignant tale of humanity. The prose is fluid and natural. Many of lines will be among the most poetic you'll ever read.

You'll be a devoted Alan Proctor fan before you reach the end of the first chapter. Buy this book now! But be warned: you will not do anything else until you've read the final line, and you'll be revisiting the story for a long time after!