The Old Windrow Place
a novel by Orin Hargraves
©2007 by the author, all rights
reserved
This novel appears here for the convenience of agents and
publishers who have been alerted to its presence. But if
you’ve landed here for some other reason there’s no
reason that you shouldn’t have a look! You can read the
book here, and also on Kindle if you’ve got
one:
The Old Windrow Place is set in an archetypal
American town, Ridgeview. There are four main characters, each of
whom gets a turn at telling their version of the story. They
are:
Dorothy Miller: a middle-aged nurse, now divorced,
she is a Ridgeview native who gave up a child for adoption when
she was a teenager and then lost a second child (from her failed
marriage) in an accident. Aware that her life is a miserable rut,
she gets the idea that taking a 10-day meditation retreat might
change things.
Mark Loeman: a self-employed editor who lives in
Ridgeview. He married after discovering that a woman he had met
on a beach vacation became pregnant. Now married nine years or so
and the father of twins from the long-ago beach romance, he is
restless and unfulfilled. Events spark nostalgia for the gay life
he abandoned. But did he burn his bridges?
Louise Loeman: mother and housewife. She copes, not
very successfully, with many deep insecurities, including doubts
about her husband’s emotional fidelity, a mysterious
illness in one of her children, and the knowledge that she was
adopted. Lately she has turned to evangelical Christianity as a
source of support in her life.
Luc: the “stranger in town.” He acquires
a farm property near Ridgeview and converts it to a Buddhist
meditation retreat on behalf of his teacher, a Sri Lankan monk.
He is also an aspiring writer, and meets Mark Loeman at the local
YMCA one day.
The novel explores questions of love, faith, sexuality,
belonging, and the afterlife, through the developing
relationships among these characters. You might say it’s a
book for people who are left behind by the “Left
Behind” series: if karma makes more sense to you than
prophecy, you’ll find it a pretty good
read.
These hyperlinks will take you to the individual
chapters:
Part I: October
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Epigraph (more of these to come! And I’m open to
suggestions.) |
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“The vicinity of women is a thorn to one leading the
holy life.” —the Buddha |
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“Love for our children, Lord, cuts into the outer skin;
having cut into the outer skin, it cuts into the inner skin;
having cut into the inner skin, it cuts into the flesh; having
cut into the flesh, it cuts into the sinews; having cut into the
sinews, it cuts into the bones; having cut into the bones, it
reaches the marrow and stays there.” —Ven.
Suddhodana |
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“As their hands touched and their lips met the raging river pulled them down.” —Running
Bear, by J.P. Richardson |
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“It looks as if with the passage of time people seem to
think that some of the morals laid down by religious teachers are
outdated, and in their enthusiasm for a gay life they do not
hesitate to put aside principles of behavior if they consider
them a hindrance.” —Piyadessi Thera |
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In a couple’s life, there is always an instant,
sometimes imperceptible, when all the chips are out on the table,
and if one person doesn’t notice what the other needs, that
person loses. —Alicia Dujovne Ortiz |
Coda: Thanksgiving
Happy reading!