If You Miss the Train I'm On
[1-60076-124-0]

This is a long novel, but it's a page-turner that kept me up several nights in a row. It's a pleasure to find a riveting story that is also thought-provoking and lingers long afterwards. The focus is a man who unexpectedly loses his wife, then discovers by accident that she had a double life. He becomes obsessed with discovering who she really was, but eventually realizes there is no one real truth. Through flashbacks you get to know the wife and understand why she made her choices. The central metaphor is a train trip. Though the characters appear to be very different, their journeys are similar. They all changed and grew very differently from their life experiences. The prose is dense, but the breadth and depth of the imagery won't let you skip a single sentence. Though the mood is somber as befits a book about larger life issues, there are moments that are surprisingly funny for a serious work. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves substantial literary novels. My only complaint is that the narrow margins make it difficult to hold the book open for bedtime reading.