In the Wake of Our Past

Wars come home with those who fight them--in a body bag, marred by injury, or living with a damaged soul. In 1973, Phin Davis returns from the Vietnam War with a stop at the Denver VA Hospital while fighting haunting images of death and struggling to find a personal reason for being alive. His father, Harry, had returned from war in 1945 after the USS Indianapolis delivered parts for the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and then sank, giving up so many of its sailors to the "gray men" below the surface. Still, Harry makes his living from the sea as a commercial fisherman. Completing the triad is Johnny Cobb, Harry's self-adopted "brother," who is the great-grandson of an African slave. Nurtured by Native American spiritualism, Cobb helps them both heal despite tragedy in his own young life. Johnny has never experienced war, but he protects Vietnam vets and gives them work, kinship, and solace as each follows his own physical and psychological path to wellness.

Set in the American South between 1950 and 1973, In the Wake of Our Past weaves multiple tales of self-discovery after loss as each character learns how not be defined by personal tragedy. Phin, Harry, Johnny and their extended family and friends are not just survivors, but echoes of war's thunder who learn to love again and have peace in their lives.