The Brother

By Quentin Baker

It’s Spring 1949. Widow Lelia Romberg agrees to marry Eduarde Fournier whose brother, LEAL, lives as a recluse upstairs in Fournier's farmhouse in Frenchtown, Montana; Lelia and Eduarde (who speaks mostly French) begin to explore life together. They decide to travel in Lelia’s 1946 Hudson to Seattle
Lelia loves being married and is sexually happy again. She enjoys driving, meeting new people and arranging her new home and planning for her flowers and garden. Eduarde hires Frank Smith, an Englishman, to take care of the farm when he and Lelia begin to travel.
The whole of their trip is exciting, dangerous, happy, and challenging. At home in Frenchtown, brother Leal reaches out to Frank Smith, giving Lelia and Eduarde hope. When the two return to Montana, they seek help for the brother. The three visit the state mental health hospital. Slowly, very slowly, Leal begins to recover. Lelia's hopefulness is interrupted when she learns that her adopted daughter, Angelique (mother of two (Marie and Joseph) is suffering from terminal cancer. Angelique lives in Los Angeles.
Lelia and Felix Forsyth, Angelque’s second husband, must confront each other over Angelique's two children; Lelia's accepts that she must adopt her six-year-old granddaughter and take her back home. Joseph is Angelque’s and Felix’s child.
Frank Smith becomes a partner on the farm. He becomes the child that neither Leal nor Eduarde had a chance to have. Lelia's and Eduarde's life together confirms that life is never predictable: expect anguish, sorrow, and joy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Quentin Baker
• Release date: Jun 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9780615276694

Quentin Baker

I am a retired high school English teacher, married with four grown children and eight grandchildren. I was born in Montana, attended university there, but moved to the SF Bay Area with my wife Jean in 1960. I have written a number of poems and used to attend cafe readings in SF. I have also written short stories, but abandoned an early novel in 1965. I edited a volume of poetry from various San Francisco writers, Poems from the Exit Café. I have also helped two friends self-publish their own books: Michael Hogan, Imperfect Geographies (poetry) and Dr. Mary B. Lane, Our Schools: Frontline for the 21st Century and Democratic Schools for Our Democracy.

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