Up Through the Darkness
by Wayne Aronsen
A Novel, Softcover, 318 pages, 1st printing, 2022
Shipped to America from Denmark by her German officer lover, alone, forsaken and pregnant, Anders’ mother ends up with her infant son in a small town on the coast of central California–the war over. Anders grows up with his reclusive mother, unaware of her past until her despondency finally drives her to suicide when he is eighteen years old. Forty years later, now a wealthy resident and prosperous businessman of the same town, a chance meeting with an old German rancher begins the revelation of Anders’ family history and the ruin of his businesses in real estate and a five-star restaurant. Small town corruption, the noirish coastal setting, a cast of strong female characters, and a mysterious benefactor lead him to a final violent act.
Up Through the Darkness is ultimately the study of Anders’ melancholy nature–how he copes and how he is redeemed.