This Is What I Want
This Is What I Want, the story of an oilfield town struggling with change amid its annual old-timers' reunion, was published by Lake Union Publishing in 2015.
Synopsis: In the sweltering heat of a Montana July, the small town of Grandview readies for its annual Jamboree. The event is meant to celebrate community, but this year tensions boil over, threatening to tear the town, and a family, apart.
Sam Kelvig, a third-generation resident, will do just about anything to protect Grandview from the influx of new oil money and the strangers chasing it. Meanwhile, his restless wife, Patricia, wearies of the constraints of marriage to a man who is so tied to his community; Sam's estranged son, Norby, has reluctantly returned home despite the family's struggle with accepting his sexuality; Henrik, Sam's volatile brother, is looking for any easy opportunity; and Blanche, the family matriarch, only wants a bit of peace before she dies. As Jamboree goes into full swing, the disputes and desires of the Kelvigs—and their friends and neighbors—collide, fueled by both longtime resentments and an irrepressible hope to preserve their family and hometown.
Formats: Paperback, Kindle, audiobook
Awards and honors: 2016 High Plains Book Awards finalist (fiction)
Synopsis: In the sweltering heat of a Montana July, the small town of Grandview readies for its annual Jamboree. The event is meant to celebrate community, but this year tensions boil over, threatening to tear the town, and a family, apart.
Sam Kelvig, a third-generation resident, will do just about anything to protect Grandview from the influx of new oil money and the strangers chasing it. Meanwhile, his restless wife, Patricia, wearies of the constraints of marriage to a man who is so tied to his community; Sam's estranged son, Norby, has reluctantly returned home despite the family's struggle with accepting his sexuality; Henrik, Sam's volatile brother, is looking for any easy opportunity; and Blanche, the family matriarch, only wants a bit of peace before she dies. As Jamboree goes into full swing, the disputes and desires of the Kelvigs—and their friends and neighbors—collide, fueled by both longtime resentments and an irrepressible hope to preserve their family and hometown.
Formats: Paperback, Kindle, audiobook
Awards and honors: 2016 High Plains Book Awards finalist (fiction)
Praise for the book
GWEN FLORIO
“The more things change—you know how this one goes. But nothing’s staying the same in Grandview, the fictional eastern Montana town in Craig Lancaster’s bittersweet new novel, This Is What I Want. Lancaster writes with great affection for small towns, but never lets that affection cloud the hard fact that their homey façade often masks troubles rivaling anything bubbling up from the oil patch. Change might be the best thing that could happen to Grandview.”
LYNDEE WALKER
“Who we are, even in our darkest moments—our dreams, our what-ifs, and our final reckonings—can all be found in this masterfully told story about a small town straddling the line of changing times. The people of Grandview will engage readers from the first page to the last. I didn’t want this book to end."
“The more things change—you know how this one goes. But nothing’s staying the same in Grandview, the fictional eastern Montana town in Craig Lancaster’s bittersweet new novel, This Is What I Want. Lancaster writes with great affection for small towns, but never lets that affection cloud the hard fact that their homey façade often masks troubles rivaling anything bubbling up from the oil patch. Change might be the best thing that could happen to Grandview.”
LYNDEE WALKER
“Who we are, even in our darkest moments—our dreams, our what-ifs, and our final reckonings—can all be found in this masterfully told story about a small town straddling the line of changing times. The people of Grandview will engage readers from the first page to the last. I didn’t want this book to end."