Old Hickory Lane

Description

Think "All Creatures Great and Small," but with a plot, some mystery, and maybe a ghost. Set in a near future 'now' and marked by moment-to-moment, life-and-death crises that are a practicing veterinarian's life, meet Warren Jeffreys, DVM. Raised white, half Cree, he's gifted with animals, but not very people savvy. Struggling to survive his first year in private practice, despite the huge chip on his shoulder, college debt, and a plague of bigotry and prejudice, his bad luck and worse judgment lands him broke and homeless, camping out with vagrants and vagabonds. He's cleansing cows and cutting up dead lambs inside bawling ewes—an animal mechanic working for a small-time veterinary service in rural North Idaho. As his hopes for prestige and preeminence buckle under the rigors of day-to-day practice, he finds a new dream—a reconciliation to home and family—and with it comes a certain peace…until, once again, as fame and fortune tempt, he faces hard choices. Filled with intense, critical emergencies, all of them based on true cases, the book has been “vetted” by modern, practicing veterinarians. It's the animals that make you really pull for Dr. Warren Jeffreys, because, despite his best attempts not to, he cares. A lot. And, because he cares, because he competes against death, regardless the odds, he makes a difference. Unfortunately, the often cantankerous farm folk he serves don’t always appreciate his efforts and skill. Nor do they trust him, the "too tall, long-haired Injun." Warren truly is a man without a home, with a foot in two worlds, but welcome in neither until he learns to trust his own heart.