Jacksonville Public Library

A distance from Avalon, when the dying and the dead reunite, Mike Messier

eng

no index present

fiction

A distance from Avalon

1346857846

Mike Messier

when the dying and the dead reunite

This story follows Joe Humble, a middle school history teacher and father of three, in the middle of a painful divorce, as he finds himself in a new world. Joe is led into a spontaneous Halloween night adventure by co-worker Shadow, a music teacher, who has survived her own troublesome mother to become an accomplished and well-liked young professional. Joe finds himself at a castle with the door opened by Shadow's "friend of a friend," the alluring yet stoic Heartbreak, who in turn takes us to the master of the house -- the mysterious, charming, and gothic Jean La Croix Distance. While the ladies seem to find a common ground, the two gentlemen can't help but challenge each other's wit, intelligence, and world knowledge. Eventually, wine and conversation cool their tempers. After a marvelous meal, an indecent proposal of a "no guarantees, no strings attached" partner swap for the rest of the evening leads the two mix-matched couples to share feelings of profound empathy and even spoils of the flesh that are later revealed to be mere tools for manipulation and indoctrination. Would it be too much to share that there is more to our hosts than what at first seems? Ultimately, Joe must choose whether to make this odd yet fascinating place his new home or to somehow find a Distance from Avalon. --, summary from Amazon.com