High Skies. Tracy Daugherty

<p><em>High Skies</em> recounts the collision of devastating weather, Cold War suspicion, tense race relations, and the unintended consequences of good intentions in a small West Texas town in the 1950s, changing the futures of the families there and altering their perceptions of America. At the center of this perfect storm is Raymond “Flyboy” Seaker, a respected military veteran, now the vice principal of a school in which Troy, who tells the story, and his disabled friend Stevie will have their lives upended forever. Through a combination of his own well-meaning ambitions and the political maneuverings of others, Flyboy and the families he serves come to grasp the meaning of community and of individual fortitude. Written with a vivid economy recalling Denis Johnson’s <em>Train Dreams</em> and painting as indelible a portrait of small town life as Larry McMurtry’s <em>The Last Picture Show</em>, <em>High Skies </em>is a perfectly distilled American epic.</p>