2012 Eric Hoffer Book Awards for General Fiction Honorable Mention 2011 Utah Book Award Finalist Maximilian Werner is a fresh and grounded writer, a welcome and original new voice. –THOMAS MCGUANE
Crooked Creek takes place during the latter part of westward expansion and chronicles the lives (and deaths) of the Wood family. The Woods–Preston and Sara–must flee Arizona when they, along with Sara’s parents and little brother Jasper, unwittingly get caught up in the plunder and sale of American Indian corpses and funerary objects. Preston, Sara, and Jasper end up in the Heber Valley of Utah, where they seek the support of Sara’s Uncle Neff until they can be reunited with Sara’s mother and father. But from the moment they ride into Heber, Preston and Sara learn that life in the valley is not as it appears, and that no matter how far we run, we cannot escape the past.