The Moonflower Route

Prize-winning author Birdsall has written a romantic thriller set in a small Alaska town where life is centered on Denali, the Great One, in the heart of the Alaska Range. It takes a lot of character to live in the wild land surrounding the mountain, much less to attempt climbing that irresistible chunk of rock, and a bevy of interesting folks with a lot of character, mountaineers to musicians, populate the pages of this intense novel. Once again, Birdsall has written an almost-ghost story in which the past interleaves inescapably with the present in a uniquely Alaska setting. Her evocative prose conjures place and people so effectively that it's prudent to keep a cup of hot cocoa at hand while you read of her bone-cold snowy scenes and of heart-chilling events.