Cottonwood Flowing

Lewis' debut novel, Cottonwood Flowing, is the coming of age story of Eva Kelly, who at the tender age of 17 watched with anguish as her brothers were sent to fight in World War II. Back home in New Ulm, Minn., Eva found herself living not far from the camp where some 200 enemy prisoners of war were being held, and one of them had been sent to work on her family farm. Some 60 years later, Eva's granddaughter, Claire Beaudine, learns of forbidden love through a series of letters found in an old trunk. At the same time, Claire finds herself caught up in a dangerous affair of her own. Interwoven between Eva's journals and Claire's memories are the stories of young men sent off to war, the loved ones they left behind, and the secrets that have been locked away for six decades. When Eva is hospitalized, Detective Chris Bruening finds himself investigating the case, and the people in her life, including Eva's beautiful and haunted niece, Lyneah Hamilton. Does Lyneah's involvement with a drifter, Hank Beaudine make her an accomplice? As he gets closer to the truth, past and present collide, and the Cottonwood River gives up her secrets.