Good Fortune Sweet Journeys

About the Book

With an insight he often wished he had not inherited, Michael Forester, a far-from-ordinary rural Missouri teacher nearing retirement, faces danger head-on with a wry smile and never-say-die determination. He is a “Kelly” from a long line of feisty Irish ancestors who first homesteaded the rough Ozark valleys along Flat Creek just after the American Civil War. He is compelled by “the sight,” as his Irish forbearers termed it, to travel to the lakes in the north. There, he seeks answers regarding his waking dreams and his foreboding of terrible difficulties that soon will follow. A craftsman and woodworker with an envious zest for living, Michael unwinds from teaching by building sturdy touring kayaks. He has tested their sea worthiness and his own metal on solo trips in northern Minnesota and on Lake Superior for almost a decade. In those wild places where Mother Nature and organized crime are oddly poised to cast terrible troubles his way, passionate intrigues from the past surface. They reweave an already complex fabric of difficulties. Death looms for Michael Forester on the wave-tossed islands of Lake Superior and ultimately back home in the steep hill country of the Ozarks. He refuses to run from evil forces, the endgame, front and center. Michael’s courage astounds his enemies but not his friends. Forester just is, and you want him by your side when the devil knocks at your door. All should know that “good fortune sweet journeys” is a long-standing Irish farewell of hope for the traveler. The proud beginnings of an Irish American family’s odyssey are revealed in Good Fortune Sweet Journeys, are continued in Recapturing Lisdoonvarna, and set to rest in the final book of this three-part series, Saint Francis in the Garden.

About the Author

The author has spent the better part of thirty years teaching science in rural Ozark schools. Firefighting in the Northwest, serving as a policeman in the army, and extensive traveling in his youth provided valued experiences. During his twentieth year a desire to write was sparked by two contemplative months as a fire lookout on an isolated peak above a wild river in Idaho. Different episodes in Europe provided opportunities to travel via train, bicycle, and his ‘thumb’ from Athens to Amsterdam. Presently, he resides with his wife on a hundred acre farm where raising cattle and wine grapes have now taken the place of raising children. Five books later he maintains his quest to write novel tales for those of noble heart. The author has recently been honored as a finalist in the William Faulkner Literary Contest and on the short list with the Chanticleer Literary Contest.