Wanderer Springs

January 1, 1987
When Jessie Tooley finally dies, Will Callaghan knows he has to go back for the funeral in Wanderer Springs, a tiny Texas town that was "born beside the railroad and died beside the interstate,'' which passed around it. In this perfectly pitched, evocative novel, Flynn, author of the award-winning North to Yesterday, tells the story of one of those evanescent towns of the American interior that has a lifespan of ``three or at most four generations.'' There are no major events in the town's history, Will says, just families and relationships. You can't pick your friends or choose your neighbors, and your ancestors have already decided your enemies. Actually, it's not true that nothing major occurseverything that happens is important, because nothing is forgotten. The narrative's leisurely pace and diffusion (Flynn provides a key to the families that spawn the novel's 120 characters) could put off some readers, but most will find it genuinely rewarding.