At the Far End of Nowhere [Paperback]

In this hauntingly unconventional novel, young Lissa Power challenges the imagination and captures the heart as she struggles to grow up under the guidance of her father, Stoutena watchmaker, inventor, and mechanical wizardwho is easily old enough to be her grandfather.

When Lissa is twelve, her mother dies from breast cancer, and the reclusive old watchmaker, now 84 years old, must oversee his daughters coming of age. Faced with the loneliness of celibacy, the vulnerability of old age, and the responsibility of supporting two young children, Stouten remains determined to protect his beloved daughter from all harm. As Lissa matures, Stoutens authority becomes increasingly restrictive.

Immersed in Stoutens old-fashioned and eccentric worldview, Lissa becomes her fathers close companion, the mother of the house, and eventually her aging fathers caregiver. Enmeshed in a powerful bond, father and daughter fall back on obsessive-compulsive behavior to cope with sexual trauma, sickness, poverty, old age, and death.

Against a backdrop of tumultuous events in the 1950s, 60s, and 70sthe Cold War, political assassinations, the Vietnam War, peace protests, the Civil Rights movement, the moon landing, and the womens liberation movementStouten uses storytelling to transport Lissa back with him to the time of his childhooda much quieter time, but not an idyllic one, when horses and oxen plowed the fields and folks moved more slowly, with the rhythm of nature. Here?At the Far End of Nowhere, father and daughter weave fact with fiction and merge reality with fantasy to reveal a broader truth.

Young Baby Boomer Lissa Power struggles to grow up during the tumultuous 1950s, 60s, and 70s under the guidance of her father, Stoutena watchmaker, inventor, and mechanical wizard easily old enough to be her grandfather. When Lissas mother dies, the reclusive old watchmaker remains determined to protect his beloved daughter from al�