Spirit Falls

the long version

Spirit Falls, is a coming-of-age novel set in the empty hardscrabble borderland between Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin. It is an affecting story of childhood friendship growing into profound love. The gypsy-like refugee Marina Svetaeva unexpectedly joins Ricky Belisle and Marie Jeanne, "M.J.", Charbonneau at curtain call on the night of their school's Christmas program. Her arrival looses a cascade of events that ultimately finds Ricky carrying M.J. in his arms across the Great Bogus Swamp into the teeth of a 100-year Lake Superior storm. If she survives he vows an ultimate sacrifice. Ricky Belisle is a boy born to first-generation immigrants. They bring with them the beliefs, manners and stories of the homeland and in so doing they create a disconnect in Ricky that forces him to begin the exploration that will eventually take him away from the land that has leached into his bones.