Giant of the Valley
includes two novellas,
and
The Witness.
Set in the Adirondack mountains of New York,
is a tale of a family struggling with the encroaching dementia of its aging patriarch, Big Louis McCutchen. Once a leader in business and his community, Big Louis battles with the guilt of causing his wife's death while resisting his three well-meaning but conflicted daughters' attempts to move him to a life care facility.
The Witness
is Jusuf Kurtovic's story. A revered concert pianist, Jusuf pays a horrendous price to protect his Muslim granddaughters from being killed or raped during the Bosnian War. But, while suffering frigid temperatures, endless hunger, loneliness, and the constant threat of snipers and shelling, Jusuf finds an unlikely companion to ease the pain of the lengthy siege of Sarajevo.