Go With Me

November 5, 2007
Like its young heroine, Lillian, Freeman's trim powerhouse is “a pistol.†The novelist and Old Farmer's Almanac
essayist sets this story of grim purpose in a rural Vermont of logging, lumber mills and “Lost Towns†beyond the reach of the law. Threatened by the locally notorious villain Blackway, who has smashed her car window and killed her cat, Lillian turns to the sheriff. Unable to offer her legal protection, he sends her to a derelict sawmill where the wheelchair-bound Whizzer Boot holds court to a Greek chorus-like circle of beer-drinking locals. When Lillian refuses to leave town in the face of Blackway's threats, Whizzer assigns fearless young Nate and crafty old Lester to go with her to find him. Over the course of a single day, they venture deep into the sparsely inhabited territory and outlaw criminality of the Lost Towns. Knowing that as they get close they “got to be ready to go all the way through,†they meet menace and violence head-on. Nate's brawn, Lester's cunning and Lillian's stolid determination lead them to a late-night confrontation with Blackway that is as startling as it is inevitable. Freeman's beautifully cadenced dialogue is rich with humor, philosophic depth and a near-mythic sensibility.

November 1, 2007
This gem of a novel by Vermont author Freeman (My Life and Adventures, 2002)may bringhim the larger audience he so richly deserves. Alonzo Whizzer Boot, proprietor of the 100-year-old Dead River Chair Company, a mill long past its prime, serves as the informal ringmaster of his wizened social circle. The men spend their days drinking beer and assessing the lay of the land. Then newcomer Lillian shows up, sent by the sheriff, who cant help her with her troubles but thinks the men may be able to. She has angered local bad guy Blackway, and he has subsequently killed her cat andsmashed her car windows. Whizzer promptly advises her to leave town, but Lillian isfeisty. Soon shes tracking Blackway in the company ofgimpy old Lester Speed and the strong but silent Nate the Great. She slowly begins torealize that she may be on a fools mission. Freemanturns this fablelike story into a surprisingly suspenseful showdown.And the artful cutaways to the old-timerspriceless, extemely funnyconversationsadd another level of richness to the tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)