Welcome awarding winner writer, Judith Kirscht, as she shares an excerpt for her novel, Hawkins Lane.
Hawkins Lane
Hawkins Lane Cover
Ned: 1981
The Bellingham courtroom fell silent as the jury filed in. Ned Hawkins stared at their faces and shivered, then gripped his older brother’s hand. Billy was staring, too, but his eyes were ablaze, daring them. Chairs scraped, someone dropped a pen. They were seated.
“The defendant will rise.”
Ned’s stomach heaved as the word “defendant” rang out, and beside him Billy jerked.
Their father rose. The tall, narrow man who should have been in a checked wool shirt and boots looked naked in blue prison garb. His neck too long.
Ned couldn’t see around Billy to their mother, but he could see her hand clutching Billy’s arm, as though to restrain him.
“Mr. Foreman, have you reached a verdict?”
The foreman stood. “We have, Your Honor.” He unfolded a slip of paper and one hand fell to the rail. “We find the defendant, Amos Hawkins, guilty of murder in the first degree.”
Ned reached for Billy as he lunged, and together he and his mother held him fast as a murmur of satisfaction rose from the surrounding crowd.
“Time we saw the end of the likes of you!” a man behind them yelled.
Their father didn’t turn. Nor did he look at his family as they led him out.
Ned: 1992
Ned Hawkins dealt with the last hiker of the day and looked at the clock that hung above the backpacks. Five o’clock. Five minutes later, he called goodnight to Paul Stagg, closed the outfitter’s door behind him, and stepped into McKenzie Crossing’s main street. A pair of teenage girls jumped away and made a wide circle around him.
There was a time he would have tipped his hat to their backs. But he’d given it up, like most everything else.
He headed for the old logging trails above town, his daily escape the chronic mid-week feeling of being trapped in his life. It was early fall, when the air cools and the tourists and campers begin to thin, the time of year that meant the gray months lay ahead. The sparkling of the snow when the sun broke through would only mean that skiers would replace campers at Staff Outfitters. And he would still spend his days filling the needs of outsiders who flowed through his life with a freedom he couldn’t even imagine, then vanished to be replaced by another batch. The mountain air never eliminated the need to go back to town, but a couple of hours climbing the rocky trails made it more tolerable. And he’d settled for that, long ago.
He’d just cut off the trail toward the creek when he heard the whistle of a fishing line cutting the air. He stopped, then approached the water ahead carefully, expecting to find his brother, who he didn’t particularly want to see.
Judy Kirscht
BIO
Originally from Chicago, I raised my family in Ann Arbor Michigan and taught writing at the Universities of Michigan and California, Santa Barbara, for many years before moving to Washington State to devote myself to writing fiction. I have published short stories, novel excerpts, and four novels: nowhere else to go (Florida Academic Press, 2011), the inheritors, home fires, and hawkins lane (New Libri Press, 2012, 2013, 2015). home fires was a finalist for the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Nancy Pearl Award in 2014, received an honorable mention in the 2014 Readers Favorite mainstream fiction contest, and won a first place in contemporary fiction from the Chanticleer Review Somerset Award contest, 2015. HAWKINS LANE won first place in the mystery and suspense category in the Chanticleer Review Somerset contest in 2016,
BLURB: HAWKINS LANE
Son of a murderer, Ned Hawkins has resigned himself to an outsider’s existence until he meets Erica Romano, daughter of the town’s new doctor. Their love of the mountains overcomes their dissonant background, and they fall in love and create a life for themselves as forest rangers in the North Cascades—until the release of Ned’s father from prison disrupts the harmony. When Erica rebels against Ned’s renewed fatalism and over-protection, her recklessness sets off a chain of disasters that begins with a near fatal accident and ends with the disappearance of Bonnie, their daughter and finding the body of Ned’s brother in the stream below their house. The search for their child and the investigation into the death brings both face-to-face with the destructive power of their pasts and an uncertain future.
Thanks for being my guest today, Judith, and for sharing the excerpt!
I loved this book. Judith Kirscht’s writing is wonderfully descriptive. Hawkins Lane is one of her finest novels. Thanks for the nice preview.
If you haven’t read Judith’s book, Hawkins Lane, you should. I am proud to say I have a copy and enjoyed it from front to back.. It delves into the lives of people who get caught up In other peoples misguided opinions… which is and seems to have always been the way of things. Hawkins Lane – a good read.
Jared McVay, author…
Loved this book!
I don’t read a lot of fiction. Judith’s Hawkins Land and No Where Else To Go were both sensitive, gripping and most of all wonderful novels. I could not put either one down. I recommend both to anyone who loves excellent writing. Thank You Judy
Paul Savoie