John M McNamara

Summers on the Nebraska Shore John M McNamara

Summers on the Nebraska Shore explores the dynamics and fluid nature of family. Love, passion and loss feature prominently. Edwin Garside, a successful novelist, reviews his nomadic life, second-guessing many of his decisions, establishing a writer's retreat as a tool for both solidifying his literary legacy and his connections with his family; goals he learns are entwined. The theme of isolation peppers his many novels and the notion of retreating to his family's farmstead, but surrounding himself with young writers and family, stirs within him a desire to reclaim, or rediscover, those links and connections he abandoned decades earlier. A lover's absence influences every decision, every nuance of his actions. But when his dream is destroyed, he steps back and examines the plans he had formulated. He shifts, refocuses on what now seems more important to him: family. He stops trying so hard to cement those bonds and instead places himself within their sphere, allowing relationships to grow more organically, less forced.