Review by Roggyrus -- Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon

Roggyrus · Post by **Roggyrus** » 16 Mar 2018, 04:32

[Following is a volunteer review of "Strong Heart" by Charlie Sheldon.]

4 out of 4 stars

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The novel Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon is virtually a chronicle of a seafarer’s life, both while on sea or on land, rich in adventure and drama, culled from the experiences of a widely traveled man that the author is. Strong Heart may as well be a testimonial to the overwhelming love of the author for the great outdoors, a fact undeniably apparent from the vivid description of the magnificent scenery and the expressed thrall of trekking along historical trails.

A man of the outdoors, however, may prove remiss on family life, as Tom in this novel does, being always away from home for months at a time. His wife, Ruth, left him, bringing with her their only child, Becky, to live with another man, Fletcher Lynch. Becky ran away at age 15, got sick and died, as what Tom was told. For Tom who is now about 70 years of age, family consists of a 60-year-old William, of Indian descent and a fellow mariner, and Myra, William’s daughter. They were in Sol Duc, in the Olympic Peninsula where the Olympic National Park is located in Washington. Now, Myra is degreed, gone to graduate school, working for the tribal community in Sol Duc, while Tom works in the pier facilities in Port Angeles, now on vacation, and William is just waiting to board his ship as a merchant sailor.

Both Tom Olsen and Fletcher Lynch are members of a commission which oversees the park and the Olympic Peninsula as a whole. Currently, under discussion by the commission is a proposal by Buckhorn International to do some mineral extraction work in the park, and the leasing of the pier for their mining operation which is opposed by the tribal community and the environmental group. Tom and Myra are among those opposed to the mining or extraction of any park resources, but there are people with vested interest and those desperate for jobs that may be favoring it. Fletcher, for one, supports the move of the Buckhorn International, especially so that Buckhorn pledged the erection of his dream project, a Human Dispersal Center.

This novel properly started as Tom, William and Myra were packing for a camping trip in the park when Ruth came, tagging along a child, Sarah, 12 or 13 years of age, whom she introduced as Tom’s granddaughter, their granddaughter actually, and being the daughter of Becky, their child. Sarah has nowhere else to go except here. Her step-father went to Europe with a new family, and instead of being taken in by her step-aunt, she sought her other nearest of kin, Ruth, her maternal grandmother. But as matters stood, Ruth seems not interested in taking her in which leaves Tom, her grandfather as the only option left, other than foster home or wandering homeless. And now that Tom’s group has to leave for the trip, it became expedient for them to take Sarah along.

This camping trip into the high country, up the trail that goes deep into the Olympic National Park has been scheduled by Tom for other purposes aside from visiting the grave of his grandfather, Roberto Olsen, who died there, and was buried there. He planned on returning an ancient artifact that he unwittingly took from the site a long time ago. It was an atlatl that might have been in the keeping of the Olsen family for generations, and which Tom’s grandfather may have intended to show to Tom had he not died. It is a bone spear thrower that as an artifact, its presence could convert the whole park into an archaeological site and preclude any other kind of activity therein. This could prove dangerous once Fletcher or the Buckhorn people knew of it. It now becomes alarming that a Survey Team of Buckhorn seems to be checking on them. Once they have set up camp near the burial site of Tom’s grandfather, members of the Survey Team would drop by to see how they were.

And then it happened. Sarah, in her wanderings around their camp site, met a short-faced bear which to her knowledge, she has sketched accurately from a distance, but William and Tom commented she had made the details wrong, and would not believe that such a bear is still extant. At the insinuation that she only made up all those, she left the group in consternation to go somewhere. When she failed to return after sometime, Tom and the others started to be alarmed. As she left without bringing her pack, they surmised she did not intend to go far, or to really leave willfully, but even with the search party being launched with choppers and all, she was not found.

Sarah reappeared after eight days, with a tale to tell and scars and wounds to show for it. What could be her mystical experience? What comes out of the Buckhorn venture into the park, and its intervention on the lives of Tom, William, Myra and Sarah?

Strong Heart is woven in magic, history and legend. I have read it with passion, I might be tempted to tell everything if not for the restriction on having to spill the spoilers. The editing is thorough, and the writing style clear and concise. I would proudly give it a 4 out of 4 stars rating. I would recommend this without hesitation to readers of adventure stories.

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Strong Heart
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