West of Rangeley

Excerpt From Chapter Three:

“Hawks, like trout, are the cowboys of the natural world, Western samurai, loners distrusted by the mainstream, their independence admired, but also feared by a society that values the status quo over all else. Growing up in the Bronx, I didn’t know much about hawks or trout. Like so many other young men during the 1960s, I migrated west, following the path blazed by those original Dharma bums, meeting Jack Kerouac, finding a mentor in the poet Gary Snyder, while another poet, Richard Brautigan taught me how to fish with flies. I chose the life of a writer and for a while a celebrity. Only later, after losing a wife and gaining a daughter, like a wounded animal, scared and lost, did I seek refuge in the Maine woods.

Life can be like that, like a river or a stream, with a twist here and a turn there, just around the bend, a surprise when you least expect it.”

Reviews:

Gary W. Moore, The Caledonian Record; April 2012
“Robert Romano has done it again… his novel takes on subjects such as development destroying pristine areas, and prices driven so high natives can no longer afford to live where their families have for generations and such social issues as racial prejudice. With Whit Parker, Romano brings home the terrible price some of our young …have paid…to serve their country. Reading West of Rangeley made me feel like I was part of the story.”

Gene Chague, The Berkshire Eagle; April 2012
“There is something in this book for everyone. Readers share Salvatore’s consternation over the imminent threat of…development and the illegal [dredging] in his favorite trout stream. We share his concern over a missing…veteran. Even a U.S, Vice President shows up. [Romano] is a very good writer who is very familiar with Western Maine, fly fishing and fly tying. Anyone who has traveled to that section of Maine can appreciate his descriptions of the balsam scented woods…”

Kevin McKay, MaineFlyFish.com; April 2012
“The book is set in post 9/11, but brings it home to small town Maine. I found myself becoming part of the town. I usually have a good feel for where a book is going, but he caught me off guard in the last few chapters and I couldn’t put it down.”