Allan, Burning: A Novel

by Donald Everett Axinn

Allan Daniels is restless. Though outwardly successful, an architect happy in his marriage and blessed with two beautiful children, he finds himself increasingly disenchanted with his materialistic world. When his wife suddenly announces that she wants a separation, maybe a divorce, his life goes into a tailspin. Two days later, as he is piloting a seaplane from Long Island to Key West, the engine of his Cessna 185 sputters, then quits.
Daniels's skills as a pilot enable him to land safely in the Everglades, where a young Miccosukee Indian named Tommy Handley rescues him. Handley belongs to the same tribe as Daniels's mother, but he also turns out to be a fugitive from justice, evading capture in the swamps. When Daniels wakes in the middle of the night to find Handley groping for his wallet, he defends himself with disastrous results. Rescued again, he soon faces the suspicions of a savvy local lawman, and the prospect that everything now depends on how he confronts that one violent act and the conflicts within himself that brought him to it.
Allan, Burning is a fast-paced novel about crisis, survival, and transformation. It will keep you riveted until the final page.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009