Lockhart
by Ralph Bland
Imprint: Resource Publications
Ralph Bland's eleventh novel, Lockhart, is the picaresque tale of Thomas Lockhart from his college days in the 1970s to his landing spot thirty years later in his hometown of Rhodes, Tennessee. Escaping from a dark past and a disreputable present, Tom Lockhart returns to Rhodes to confront the ghosts and demons of his past and somehow carve out a place to stand his ground against age, time, and the worst of all his enemies: himself. From a haunted incident to a shattered romance and the promise of a happy ending, Lockhart walks, runs, and shapeshifts himself through the labyrinthian corridors of the magically realistic world in his path.
Ralph Bland is the author of eleven novels and two collections of short stories. He is a graduate of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and lives with his wife and spoiled dogs on the outskirts of Music City, USA (Nashville, TN).
"In the tradition of Southern fiction, Thomas Lockhart is working his way along the ragged edges of his life, trying to make sense of the choices he has made and the regrets that haunt him. Maybe he can even find some measure of redemption. Ralph Bland writes movingly of contradictions and ironies about lives lived, weaving their way through entanglements, bars, and cheeseburgers in search of a reason to be."
--M. M. Braswell, author of Gaffrey's Dream
"Bland's intriguing novel tells the story of Thomas Lockhart's return to his hometown after a long absence. As he goes through the process of reconnecting with people and place, he finds himself dangling hopelessly in a web of regrets that he himself had spun. Bland skillfully excavates the midden of Lockhart's life history and through it all validates the adage that old sins do indeed cast long shadows."
--Anthony Cavender, coeditor of Growing Up South of the Mason-Dixon Line
"Ralph Bland takes his antihero, Thomas Lockhart, on a journey through life that goes full circle, where his reflections on his travails bring redemption. The journey is entertaining and very much worth reading, and the reflections will remind many of their journey, as well."
--Monte Lamb, former sales executive
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