“Ivan Doig’s last book, finished before his April 9, 2015 death, is a story that is destined to live through its readers forever. I savored Donal/ Red Chief/ Scotty’s tales of life and adventure, high jinks and mischief, cowboys and hoboes, love and family. This is one of my top three fiction favorites of 2015… Loved it.”
—Janis Segress, Queen Anne Book Company, Seattle, WA
“Donal Cameron lives with his grandmother on the Double W ranch in the Two Medicine Country of the Montana Rockies, a gorgeous landscape alive with Maxfield Parish sunsets, jagged peaked mountains, and picturesque rivers. It is a land he is loath to leave. Donal was orphaned young and taken in by his grandmother who toils as the ranch cook. He is only 11 years old in 1951 when health issues force her to put him on a bus to Wisconsin to stay with her sister, Kate, for the summer. Donal has never met his great aunt, he is worried about his grandmother’s upcoming surgery, and he has never been out of Montana. Traveling alone on a Greyhound Bus turns into quite an adventure. Donal’s troubles are not over when he arrives, Kate is a despotic, ill tempered, self-serving woman completely lacking any consideration for the needs of a lonely young boy. Her husband, Herman the German, is Donal’s refuge. Herman’s obsession is anything to do with the West, Cowboys, and Indians. When Kate chucks Donal out, sending him back to Montana on the Greyhound Bus, Herman sneaks aboard too. The traveling companions scuttle Kate’s plans and light out for adventure in the west. Boy Howdy, do they ever find it! A veritable traveling roadshow of characters keep things interesting for the pair, and their readers. Cowboys, Indians, bucking horses, all come together for a last tale from one of the Northwest’s best authors, Ivan Doig.”
— Deon Stonehouse, Sunriver Books, Sunriver, OR
You can find Ivan Doig’s Last Bus to Wisdom at Queen Anne Book Company, Sunriver Books, and other independent bookstores around the country.