Valhalla

Newton Thornburg is an underrated author who should be more widely read. The first novel of his I read was Cutter & Bone and after that began to track down as many of his books as possible. To Die in California and Dreamland were reissued in paperback a few years ago but I had to look in online second hand book stores to find his other books. Valhalla was written in 1980. It is set in an America that has suffered an economic collapse. Society has fallen apart and gangs of youths roam the land. Walter Stone has left St Louis behind and is setting out to find a remote cabin owned by a friend of his. Stone comes across three survivors of a small plane crash and decides to aid them. They get taken in by a group living in some lake side cabins and there is where the bulk of the novel takes place. Friction develops between the inhabitants about how best to survive and all the while there is the threat of attack from the vicious gangs. Valhalla is the name of a fortified house on top of a large rock overlooking the lake and could provide salvation for the group. I have never read a bad book by Newton Thornburg and Valhalla is no exception, it is well worth tracking down.