The Vermilion Cliffs

These are the memories of Mitchell McGlinn, from his earliest recollections to when his childhood ends at the age of eleven. From when his mother walks out one night and never returns, to when he finally learns the truth of that night. It is the story of a boyhood spent with his younger sister Cassie and their father Nathan who, assisted by Dorothy, runs a diner in a remote area of Arizona in the 1920s. Business is never good. Isolated from the rest of Arizona by the towering Vermilion Cliffs to the north and the depths of mighty Colorado to the south, the only crossing is by an old ferry some miles up river. Then finally a bridge is built nearby which spans the Marble Canyon and promises a new lease of life for the area. But the Great Depression is looming.A chance meeting with a Navajo Indian when the bridge is dedicated leads inexorably to the end of Mitch's childhood. And when Mitch does finally learn the truth about his mother, the only source of that truth is his father. It is a dilemma which has never stopped bothering him - neither has his father's demise for which he has always been uncertain of his own responsibility.He is a man haunted by these events. They begin where his childhood begins ...