R L Mata

The stones in the groundwork have been laid and we now find ourselves in the present in this, the satisfying last installment of Prairie Moon. Dennis Camp knew little of what would come by honoring a promise to his dying mother. He would find and forge a large, diverse, and well-found family. The Camp family branches from their roots, with some members leaving the Centennial state, and some branches finding themselves pruned far before others. Old issues seem to have been resolved, yet others have found their way here. As this new family coalesces, the long-declining farmland has taken on a new and unexpected renaissance of its own. Dennis laid the path for a sure-footed family; with the foundations now secure, the future promising, and the present finally at peace. Through all of Dennis' effort and work to understand his obligations, he acts on a newfound understanding that is finally his.

Two roads converge and two journeys end at a small, unpromising town called Stoneridge on the high plains of northeast Colorado. Roy Mathis is headed there by car, his head full of inchoate memories and reveries in search of his father, his sister, and context for a fragmented life. Fleeing his mother, who refuses to tell him anything that would help him in his quest, Roy sets his sights on the only desperate hope for a clue in the forgotten whistle-stop town.Father Fritz has arrived in another way: he has been banished. Though his notorious conduct with young charges has been exposed, Fritz has been up to much worse, as only he knows.

On the high plains of northeastern Colorado, Dennis Camp's world, already small, is getting smaller. Wherever he looks, towns are disappearing, schools are closing, and his social world is shrinking. Emptiness is not inevitable for Dennis himself; however, his mother, who knows him better than he knows himself, has asked him for a promise, and he has given it. If he can just figure out how to act on that promise, his world may become large enough to bring him happiness and fulfillment as a man.