Last Bus to Wisdom: A Novel / Ivan Doig

An Amazon Best Book of August 2015: The final book in Ivan Doig s career as a great western writer begins with a journey east. 11-year-old Donal Cameron, already orphaned, must leave Montana and the protective skirts of his beloved Gram when she is required to have surgery. Armed only with an autograph book and an active imagination, Donal boards a Greyhound bound for Wisconsin. After a memorable trip that includes a first kiss and a run-in with a sheriff, he arrives to live with his Aunt Kate. It does not go well, and since it is the 1950s Aunt Kate threatens to send him back west to an orphanage. Donal boards a bus again, but now he has gained an unexpected companion: Aunt Kate s beleaguered husband Herman the German (who intercepts the orphanage papers). Together they head west in a wide open and fun adventure. Donal shows Herman the west. Herman takes on the role of father figure. The boy s autograph book fills up, and we watch him grow wiser with each signature (and there is another run-in with the sheriff). The apparent joy that Ivan Doig took in crafting this story is infectious it is a wonderful novel, populated with simple and real characters. Last Bus to Wisdom is a yarn and a pleasure. Chris Schluep