Linda S Brilhart

Thunder in the Hills Linda S Brilhart

Thunder in the Hills Thunder cracks and shakes the remote hills that make up and surround a small Ozark town. If you should find yourself there, you might want to take refuge in a local eatery known as Aunt Dun's café. And you could see two cousins (ages 10 and 11) milling about. They are living under the protective care of their Grandaunt Dunleavy and the café's extended family. What you will not know (until you read the book) is that the boys and their elders struggle to survive in an authoritarian theocracy that encapsulates their lives. The story begins in 2080 in an alternative nation not unlike our own. The former United American States (UAS) has been severed by ideology, religion, and geography. Both cousins, Sage and Kenneth, have suffered the loss of their parents who have been imprisoned by Missouri's conquering government, the Confederation of the Solemn States of America (CSSA). Sage and Kenneth soon realize that they are living in a den of spies and rebels secretly fighting the local CSSA authorities. They join their aunt and the café family in the rebellion. In the process Sage is forced to love and betray. Kenneth's soul hardens, but is salvaged by love and the ties that bind us. They see and experience bravery and endurance. Horror and madness explodes around them, and they respond with raw fear, anger, and inventive subterfuge. The boys and the family are aided by a mysterious spirit arriving in a white, 1955 Chevy. She grants them special powers emanating from crystal taken from a karst on Aunt Dun's own property. It is seasoned and enhanced in a magical 'Beyeska' which she leaves with them. Their adventures range from the Missouri Ozarks to the Kansas Territory, to Lousiana 's barricaded city of sin, le Vieux Quartier, on into the Gulf of Mexico, back to the Northern Wilds of Louisiana, and finally into the fearful depths of Ar-Kansas. Pray to the higher power of your choice that you do not ever meet a Bramble-or Richard Razor Campbell! Welcome to Aunt Dun's Café! Sit down. Have a cup of coffee and piece of pie or maybe a slice of Mrs. Stemler's chocolate cake. Hear the thunder and enjoy the ride! Intended for Young Adults and beyond.