Russell Hatler

Hood River Anthology Russell Hatler

Hood River Anthology is a hybrid novel, consisting of historical chapters and short stories. The first several chapters tell the story of a fictitious German family of tenuous nobility who escape from East Germany during the Soviet occupation, dodging Stasi agents and border guards, and eventually settle in Hood River, OR, where they build a Bed and Breakfast modeled after King Ludwig's Schloss Linderhof castle. The succeeding chapters are short stories about the lives of lodgers who stay at the Neue Schloss Linderhof. In many respects the compendium mirrors the tradition of "Winesburg, Ohio" by Sherwood Anderson or "Spoon River Anthology" by Edgar Lee Masters.