OUTSIDE MAN

A drifter sets out on a winding journey of self-discovery in Heberden’s novel.

After leaving home early on (there are vague hints of childhood abuse), Sam Lawrence has been on the move in his car, stopping to earn just enough money to get to the next little town, the next highway offramp. The story opens in the farm town of Gainesville in the Palouse country west of Spokane, Washington, where Sam has stopped to get gas and something to eat. But he decides, for reasons unclear to himself (as most of his decisions are), to stay for a while. Then a guy in a bar gets him some work on the Petersen farm. He’s a fast learner and a good worker. Soon the old man, Harley Petersen, takes notice, and suddenly Sam is inching toward a real job and slowly falling in love with a woman named Ruth Kirby. Will this be the end of Sam’s roving? Or will he eventually take to the road once again, continuing his journey of self-exploration? Heberden is a pro, and it shows. He is also an elegant stylist, and Papa Hemingway would be proud to own sentences like this: “The line on his reel was still clear and bluish on the spool and he knew it was strong and supple and he began threading it out through the guides.” His descriptions almost always do justice to the natural world and the Palouse countryside that he celebrates. The book includes a scary account of the big wheat harvest (Sam is driving a combine) when the stubble catches fire—this is Heberden at his best. The author has an impressive knack for capturing the flavor of everyday chitchat in a small town. On the downside, however, he occasionally withholds too much detail when drawing his characters, such as Dan Petersen, the flaky younger son. But this tendency toward subtlety often hits just the right balance of physical description and psychological insight.

An absorbingly introspective study of human nature set against an inspiringly idyllic backdrop.