Medicine Walk

Franklin Starlight is called to visit his father, Eldon. He's sixteen
years old and has had the most fleeting of relationships with the man.
The rare moments they've shared haunt and trouble Frank, but he answers
the call, a son's duty to a father. He finds Eldon decimated after years
of drinking, dying of liver failure in a small town flophouse. Eldon
asks his son to take him into the mountains, so he may be buried in the
traditional Ojibway manner.    
What ensues is a journey through
the rugged and beautiful backcountry, and a journey into the past, as
the two men push forward to Eldon's end. From a poverty-stricken
childhood, to the Korean War, and later the derelict houses of mill
towns, Eldon relates both the desolate moments of his life and a time of
redemption and love and in doing so offers Frank a history he has never
known, the father he has never had, and a connection to himself he
never expected.   
A novel about love, friendship, courage, and the idea that the land has within it powers of healing, Medicine Walk
reveals the ultimate goodness of its characters and offers a deeply
moving and redemptive conclusion. Wagamese's writing soars and his
insight and compassion are matched by his gift of communicating these to
the reader.