Fathers and Sons , a look at family dynamics and interfaith yearning, turns disappointment and sorrow into an understated triumph of the human spirit. A runner and skier examine their purpose, family, and relationships in these coming-of-age stories set in Michigan’s north woods. In “The Long Run,” Merrit Reef, wanting his father’s approval above all, looks to medal in a half-marathon and finds, through the rigors and sacrifice of competing, something wholly unexpected at the finish of the race. In “Snow Country,” Mark Silver, a reporter and Jew who befriends a migrant farmworker and her young son, experiences a crisis in faith as he attempts to overcome his fear of giving them a Christmas tree. For readers who love seasonal change, the Great Lakes, woodsy trails, and wandering souls committed to the outdoors as a means of salvation, Fathers and Sons delivers. ________ Fathers and Sons is an elegant and flint-eyed look at families, love, and the natural world outside the window at dusk, in the autumn, or the first snowfall—or that first late night of spring when the day goes gloriously on... These wonderful stories are evocative of many things, of place, the weather system of moods between men and women. Makiefsky’s stories are a gift not only to fathers and sons, but to readers who love great writing. A startling and memorable debut. —Doug Stanton, New York Times best-selling author of The Odyssey of Echo Company , Horse Soldiers, and In Harm’s Way “Go easy now, son,” a father cautions in the first story of Fathers and Sons , a linked couplet of pieces planted deep in the haunting and beautiful landscape of northern Michigan. And here is the secret that is spoken quietly through these pages: easy is a difficult place to reach in the company of those who’ve raised us and those we raise. “The Long Run” and “Snow Country” are populated with men who try to live up to the roles cast on those of their gender—dutiful son, strong father, provider, fixer, winner—while longing for something different from the traditional lives of others. Merrit Reef runs through his days and away from “real” work, finding comfort and fulfillment in the rhythm of his steps, the pull of the pavement beneath him, the sound of breathing from those he’s passed, the not-yet-visible finish line ahead. This is what he knows. This is what draws him. Merrit’s friend, Mark Silver, shares “The Long Run” with him and then makes his own way into the second story, “Snow Country,” where he finds himself baffled by the cold and snow, other people’s traditions, and too little purpose. Makiefsky has deftly pulled us into this place where the heat makes us dizzy and hallucinatory, and where the snow blinds us to what we need, what we believe we want. The prose is rich and evocative, amusing and moving, sensory and bold. And there is transcendence here as the stories invite us into the lives of these men, then lift us above northern Michigan’s woods and rolling hills, its bay and lakeshore, to a new place of familiarity and of understanding. A place where we—and the men of these stories—may find grace. —Patricia Ann McNair, author of And These Are the Good Times and The Temple of Air ________ B.L. Makiefsky spent his formative years living an itinerant life that included picking cherries in the Hood River Valley, harvesting hemp in Iowa, working construction in California, reporting news in west Michigan, crisscrossing the country on a motorcycle, hopping trains, and hitchhiking. Since the initial publication of Fathers and Sons , his work has appeared in several literary magazines and journals. For a listing of the author’s other work, go to blmakiefsky.com. B.L. Makiefsky spent his formative years living an itinerant life that included picking cherries in the Hood River Valley, harvesting hemp in Iowa, working construction in California, reporting news in west Michigan, crisscrossing the country on a motorcycle, hopping trains, and hitchhiking. Since the initial publication of Fathers and Sons, his work has appeared in several literary magazines and journals. For a listing of the author's other work, go to blmakiefsky.com.