The road taken - Michael Foss

The Road Taken is the narrative of the uncompromising and often dramatic life of Lew Holle, a complex, intriguing, and ultimately heroic character. As a young man he moves from his bleak, rural North American roots to the sun-baked terrain of southern Spain, and rom there to the haunting landscape of the Moroccan maghreb. Never in thrall to the opinions of others or to the tired conventions of a civilization with which he feels himself completely at odds, he becomes embroiled in drug-smuggling, peddling temporary dreams to jaded Western youth. A moment's inattention brings him into contact with the law; he serves time in an Italian jail, only narrowly escaping a long sentence. Returning to live in the remote forests of Western Canada, he chooses to take his own life rather than fall victim to disease. Beautifully written, sharply observed and extremely evocative of both the time and the places of Lew's existence, The Road Taken is an inspirational tale of unquenchable independence and self-sufficiency: the account of a man who, rather than settle for mediocrity, spends his life on his own terms, and in doing so touches the lives of many.