ON SAWDUST AND BROKEN GLASS

Kaloudis presents a novel about a father’s legacy and a son finding his own path in life.

The saga of the Koglin family begins in 1996 in Wilkes County, North Carolina, with the death of Patrick Conor Koglin Sr., the owner and founder of Koglin Lumber. His son, recent college graduate and newlywed Callum, feels obliged to set aside his dreams of becoming a writer and suddenly finds himself at the helm of the family business. He goes on to have three children of his own; he must deal with a family tragedy and a recession that wreaks havoc on the economy, forcing him to re-evaluate his priorities and make hard decisions. Meanwhile, his kids are growing up fast—his eldest son, Liam, now set to finish his final year of economics at Harvard University—and Callum learns that Liam dreams of following in his own footsteps. Because Callum was forced to take on a role that he never really wanted, he’s angry and insistent that Liam shouldn’t use his Ivy League education just to run a sawmill. This creates a rift between the two, dividing the family for many years. Eschewing the world of finance, Liam travels the Western states searching for purpose and eventually finds himself living in Alaska as a first mate on a tourist fishing boat. Years later, in 2030, with encouragement from siblings Alex and Ella, Liam brings his life full circle. In Kaloudis’ presentation of Koglin family saga, he offers an economic lesson wrapped in fiction, along with a bit of insight into the future, as well. Focusing on the burden of family legacy, and themes of reconciling old wounds and learning to become an individual, the novel effectively invites the reader on a journey of disillusionment about the American dream. He also presents a story that will remind readers that, whatever one may predict for one’s life, it doesn’t always go as planned: “Although dreams of a big city and good jobs changed, life’s prescription declared they could wait—maybe some other time.”

An ambitious novel of parenthood and the complexities of family expectations.