Of Saints and Rivers is a sweeping historical novel spanning three generations of an Oklahoma ranch family, from early territorial days through the Dustbowl, Depression, World War Two and early 1950s. In settings ranging from the midwestern plains to Mexico, a state penitentiary, seminary, the Caribbean, and wartime Pacific, the story follows the individual loves and trials of the McClellan family over a sixty-year period.
At its core is the conflict between a gifted but troubled youngest son and his celebrated father as both grapple with their pasts, and the son's search for atonement and meaning. Enveloping themes of racial prejudice, marital conflict, guilt, addiction, love and loss, religious doubt and forgiveness, the novel asks hard questions of God and ourselves.
Of Saints and Rivers is the recipient of positive reviews in Kirkus, a ''Recommended" rating by the U. S. Review of Books, and the 2026 Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best Contemporary novel. Spiritually thought-provoking and laced with unexpected truths and ironies, it is at once an informative historical narrative, an emotionally-compelling family chronicle, and rich tapestry of interwoven love stories.
