Virgil Wander

Leif Enger is back, and he brings his storytelling mastery with him. He introduces us to Virgil Wander, a small-town Midwesterner who carries a torch for the nostalgic. He owns the only cinema in a collapsing town (pushing through the high maintenance and low attendance) and has a mostly comfortable life, settled into the familiar until he plummets his car into Lake Superior and survives. When he is pulled from the waters he comes back changed. He must rebuild his life and the story unfolds through a cast of truly captivating characters, quirky and full of life.

It is a slow, nostalgic, superbly crafted stroll through town, memory, and relationships. The action unfolds in quiet tragedies. It doesn’t slam you; it slides up next to you and waits for its reader to take notice. I have been captured by this town, these people and their stories. His first novel, Peace Like A Riverstole my heart for anything Leif Enger writes, and although he isn’t writing fast enough to keep up with my appetite for his storytelling, I will wait and always be ready for his offerings. Virgil Wander is one to savor.