Description
Robbie Van Epp collided with life in his seventeenth year. Growing up in a small town in 1939 was nice, and there was no place as beautiful as Sister Bay, Wisconsin. with its lakes and forests.
But that year a lot of things needed to be grappled with, under- stood. Suddenly Robbie was being affected by events all around him over which he had no control. His father had already left Sister Bay to find work in the city. And then there was talk of war.
Robbie's more immediate anxieties, how- ever, focused on the friends of his childhood and threats to their dream of building Loon Lodge. Charlie had been accused of setting fire to the tannery, putting most of the towns- people out of work. That Charlie was inno- cent, Robbie had no doubt.
But Sister Ro had to be convinced and meanwhile Ch suffered. Robbie was bewildered, too, by changes in Livvie and in his relationship with her. Even his best friend, Jim, an Indian from the Chippewa Reservation, seemed to sense some coming change, a change that might affect their relationship.
Robbie learned a lot that year, about the cruelty and kindness of people, the unfairness and unpredictability of life. He grew up in a hurry, but one thing didn't change. Always in the background was Sister Bay and the dream that there was something of lasting beauty to be found and nourished there.
