Shohola Falls

With the death of his mother and the sudden disappearance of his father, teenager Tommy Blanks is faced with living alone in the Bronx on the money his father left him and on whatever he can steal. His shoplifting eventually lands him in a Catholic Boys' Home in Upstate New York run by a demonic priest. After a school-wide brawl, Tommy escapes and is presumed dead by the local authorities when they find his hat floating in the river.

Tommy is taken in by a local hermit who leads him to Tommy's great-grandfather's deserted house in a nearby town. History and fiction converge as we discover that Thomas Blankenship, Tommy's great-great-grandfather, is the young man whom Mark Twain used as a prototype for Huckleberry Finn. And Tommy's life on the road as an orphan parallels Twain's resourceful Huck Finn. Eventually, his search for the facts and the meaning of his own experience leads Tommy across the country and finally back home. Michael Pearson's evocative prose works to dramatic effect in a novel that is part mystery, part bildungs-roman, part love story.

Author: Michael Pearson
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 10/01/2003
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.26h x 6.32w x 0.72d
ISBN: 9780815607854

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 09/15/2003 pg. 211
BookPage 01/01/2004 pg. 24

About the Author
Michael Pearson teaches creative writing in the MFA program at Old Dominion University. His books include Dreaming of Columbus: A Boyhood in the Bronx and Innocents Abroad Too: Journeys Around the World on Semester at Sea