Pirate Patty Reviews

Rich Gundersen is following in his family’s footsteps, felling giant redwoods on California’s coast. The work is dangerous and getting worse. Rich dreams of owning his own land to work and leaving it to his only child and son, Chub.

Rich and his wife, Colleen, have known their share of heartbreak and hard times. Colleen is a self-taught midwife and desperately wants another child of her own but after 8 miscarriages, Rich is not on the same page.

In the 70’s the whole “Save the Trees” campaign was in full swing, pitting the lumber companies against the activists. Unfortunately, the lumber company and most of its employees have very few scruples or sympathy for the activists or the residents.

When Colleen begins delivering more and more babies with hideous birth defects, no one wants to hear her concerns or the concerns of an environmentalist. Even after proving they are polluting the water supply and causing cancer and deaths, they don’t care.

Trying hard to hang on to a way of life that has come to an end, Rich is now lying to his wife and people are getting hurt.

This was a good premise. I personally could not connect with Rich. He was really closed off to anything except his own wants. And Colleen, who just turned a blind eye until she could no longer stand silent.

That said this is a good look at large corporations that cut corners and pollute the same land that makes them rich.

NetGalley/ August 3rd, 2021 by Scribner