Prudence

 David Treuer is a Minnesotan and the author of Prudence. The story is set in northern Minnesota on the banks of the Mississippi River. Emma and Jonathan have purchased a resort. They travel from their home in Chicago every May. Emma stays the summer and runs the resort. Emma has hired Felix, a local man, to make repairs and to stay on the property all winter. Jonathan stays for shorter segments of time because he has a medical practice to run. Their son, Frankie, stays the summer. In 1942 Frankie is staying for a couple of weeks before he is leaving for the Air Force for boot camp. He will become a bombardier in England. He is bringing some friends from Princeton University with him. Frankie is happy to see Felix. Frankie and Felix are closer than Frankie is to his father. This year the state has built a German POW camp across the river from the resort. When Frankie arrives they learn that a German POW has escaped. Frankie, Felix, and the college boys head out into the woods to look for the German prisoner. A violent tragedy occurs. We learn the fall out of that tragedy over the next ten years. I thought the author did a great job describing the landscape and the seasons and the weather. His descriptions of the men are much better than his descriptions of the women in the story. Felix and the other employees of the resort are Native American, as is the author, so this story is also a story about race. I liked the story because it was unpredictable.