April 23, 2018
In this enchanting allegory, Markert (All Things Bright and Strange) crafts an imaginative tale of the Dust Bowl. In 1930s Oklahoma, Jeremiah Goodbye, known as the Coin-Flip Killer, was supposed to die in the electric chair, but a well-timed tornado spares his life and causes him to reconsider his past evil deeds. After being whisked away by the tornado, he decides to return to his hometown of Nowhere, Okla., with Peter, an odd young boy he rescues from the storm. Jeremiah has a score to settle with his twin brother, Josiah, who turned him in to the police and married the woman he once loved—but the unrelenting, almost supernatural weather may prove to be his toughest enemy. When a mammoth dust storm rolls across the plains and envelopes Nowhere, Jeremiah and Peter take on the Herculean task of clearing out their neighbors who are buried under a mountain of dust. Markert creatively portrays the timeless battle between good and evil, making for a powerful story of hope and redemption.