Author Description

In this Dostoyevskian novel, Jake Miller, a minor character drawn from James Ostby's first literary work--Men With Broken Faces--is a homesteader in northeastern Montana who suffers life to a higher degree than do most people. Uneducated, though intelligent and noble of spirit, he plods on over the open prairie and the vast wheatfields of his life, trying to find solace in farming, everyday life, and through his somewhat ironic sense of humor. Jake is haunted by both his Wheel of Life and the Fatidic Light. His Wheel of Life, more like a grindstone, is a relentless psychological encumbrance that he has had to endure from childhood. Its severity varies from mild to unbearable, though Jake has no choice but to suffer it valiantly and with little complaint. The Fatidic Light is more frightening. It is an actual hallucination that Jake first sees as a harbinger of misery and doom. Only late in life does he discover its essence. A main thread through the book is Jake's ups and downs as he struggles for peace and normalcy. In his continual and noble efforts to endure his difficult existence, he turns to philosophy, religion, and to any other contrivance or device that makes his way easier.