NARROW THE ROAD
By James Wade
Genre: Southern Fiction, Literary Fiction, Coming of Age
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Pages: 306
Publication Date: 26 August 2025
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*** SYNOPSIS ***
In this gripping coming-of-age odyssey, a young man’s quest to reunite his family takes him on a life-altering journey through the wilds of 1930s East Texas, where both danger and opportunity grow as thick as the pines.
With his father missing and his mother gravely ill, William Carter is struggling to keep his family’s cotton farm afloat in the face of drought and foreclosure. As his options wane, William receives a mysterious letter that claims to know his father’s whereabouts.
Together with his best friend Ollie, a mortician in training, William sets out to find his father and bring him home to set things right. But before the boys can complete their quest, they must navigate the labyrinth of the Big Thicket, some of the country’s most uncharted, untamed land. Along the way they encounter eccentric backwoods characters of every order, running afoul of murderers, bootleggers, and even the legendary Bonnie and Clyde.
But the danger is doubled when the boys agree to take on a medicine show runaway named Lena, eliciting the ire of the show’s leader, the nefarious con man Doctor Downtain. As William, Ollie, and Lena race to uncover the clues and find William’s father, Downtain is closing in on them, readying to make good on his violent reputation. With the clock ticking, William must decide where his loyalties lie and how far he’s willing to go for the people he loves.
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*** REVIEW ***
One of my favorite storytellers has delivered another winner!
Narrow the Road is a wonderful story that, while I was eager to find out what would happen next, part of me didn’t want the rich literary experience to end. As with all the previous novels I’ve read by James Wade, there’s such a richness to the language, to the characters, and to the plot that draws the reader in deeply to the narrative, and doesn’t easily let us go.
This story focuses on William, a fifteen-year-old boy who sets out on a quest to find his father and bring him home before his mother dies. The setting is East Texas in 1932, during a period of draught and the Great Depression, the journey is perilous, and the challenges are myriad. The boy has no money. The farm is about to be taken by the bank, and William only has a vague idea of where his father might be. The boy is joined by his friend Ollie, who is the epitome of what a best friend is, and often adds a touch of comic relief just when William, and the reader, need it.
Mid way through the journey the boys are joined by Lena, who first tries to steal their small cache of food and blankets. When they decide to band together for safety against the vagabonds and the confidence men, the boys soon come to appreciate Lena’s knowledge of the Big Thicket area they still must pass through to get to where William thinks his father is.
Not only do William and Ollie and Lena learn things about themselves and about humanity on their journey, there are lessons for the reader to read and reread. Just one example is this thought about collective bloodlust that is true no matter the circumstances or time period: “Theirs was a primal and unrestrained violence. An ancient violence what saw their every disappointment and disillusion manifested there before them in the beating heart of this creature who was not one of their own. Kill and cleanse and be born anew.”
This is a stark tale, filled with danger and drama, but Wade always knows when to drop in a bit of humor to ease the tension. One example is this when William asks the old woman purported to be a witch when his father left her encampment and she answers, “Sometime before now. Yesterday maybe. Or last year. Time is a memory and memories are funny little shits.”
The narrative fairly sings with wonderful fresh descriptions that let a reader feel and taste and see what the characters are encountering. Such as: “The house had been built at the edge of the woods and the woods now seemed to be seeking more territory. Branches from oaks and willows grew out over the structure and rested their weight on the dormers and on the roof itself. It looked like it had stood for two hundred years. It looked like it might not stand for two more hours.”
Narrow The Road is a story of adventure that is also thoughtful and perfectly crafted. Highly recommended!
*** ABOUT THE AUTHOR ***
James Wade is the award-winning author of Hollow Out the Dark, Beasts of the Earth, All Things Left Wild, and River, Sing Out. He is the youngest novelist to win two Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America, and a recipient of the MPIBA’s prestigious Reading the West Award. His work has appeared in Texas Highways, Writers’ Digest, and numerous additional publications. James lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country with his wife and children.
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