I Cheerfully Refuse - Leif Enger

nA career defining tour-de-force from New York Times nbestselling, award-winning and formidably gifted (Chicago Tribune) author nof Peace Like a River Leif Enger.n nA storyteller of great humanity and huge heart (Minneapolis nStar Tribune), Leif Enger debuted in the literary world with Peace Like na River which sold over a million copies and captured readers' hearts naround the globe. Now comes a new milestone in this boldly imaginative author's naccomplished, resonant body of work. Set in a not-too-distant America, I nCheerfully Refuse is the tale of a bereaved and pursued musician embarking nunder sail on a sentient Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply nbeloved, bookselling wife.

Rainy, an endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, nseeks refuge in the harbors, fogs and remote islands of the inland sea. Encountering nlunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, Rainy finds on land nan increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling nclass, crumbled infrastructure and a lawless society. Amidst the Gulliver-like nchallenges of life at sea and no safe landings, Rainy is lifted by physical nbeauty, surprising humor, generous strangers, and an unexpected companion in a nyoung girl who comes aboard.

And as his innate guileless nature begins to make nan inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy's private quest for the love of his life ngrows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in nhis strengthening wake. nn n n nn nI Cheerfully Refuse epitomizes the musical, sometimes magical and deeply nsatisfying kind of storytelling (Los Angeles Times) for which Leif nEnger is cherished. A rollicking nnarrative in the most evocative of settings, this latest novel is a symphony nagainst despair and a rallying cry for the future.

n