John D Randall

Jonathan's Song John D Randall

On Christmas Eve 1914 naturalist and ecological pioneer John Muir dies in a California hospital. At the same moment three thousand miles away a baby is born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; his name is Lionel Johnson. In 1932 Lionel leaves his family and joins the Civilian Conservation Corps. The government gives him $5/month and sends the remaining $25 home to his family. The CCC is a program that worked. Flash forward to a hospital in Bellevue, Washington in 1997 where Lionel is in a coma. As he approaches death he mentally connects with an unhappy young woman, Kathryn O' Neill, who is attending Lehigh University in Bethlehem. Kathryn is a spoiled, Philadelphia 'princess'. The connection saves Lionel from dying, although he remains in a coma. Kathryn's behavior begins to spin out of control; she is suspended from college, then runs away from home. In the process she loses her money and her dignity, only to find it at the end of a long bus ride when she is offered redemption. Work five months in the California Conservation Corps' Wilderness Program. As Kathryn's character arcs she befriends a young man named Jonathan who is autistic. In flashback we follow Lionel through his experience with the CCC which takes him to Boulder (Hoover) Dam, then to the high country in California where he is touched by John Muir's spirit. Concurrently, the story follows young Kathryn as her character arcs while doing hard work in the Sierras. Lionel passes John Muir's spirit of conservation on to young Kathryn in a page-turning final scene at the summit of Mt. Whitney. The book will leave you with happy tears.