Gretchen Eick

Finding Duncan Gretchen Eick

When Duncan Allan comes home early from a business trip and surprises his wife with his charming elder brother, anger and despair overwhelm him. He flees, drinks himself to oblivion, and ends up escaping to a remote fishing village on Scotland's North Sea coast to try to survive this double betrayal. There an elderly Scot, a Dutch child and her mother rescue him and he rebuilds his life. When tragedy strikes, he is again lost and alone, shrinking again into immobilizing depression.

Abandoned by her husband in Wichita, Kansas and pregnant, Duncan's wife Amy also has to reinvent her life--a single mom in a Midwestern city sharing her home with her gay brother-in-law and his partner. Her need to understand Duncan's disappearance prevents her from fully moving on with her life.

When years later her son and his travel buddy meet a gruff and unfriendly American in Scotland, all three Allans must choose must whether to wade into their family secrets and anger. Is Duncan worth finding or should they all let him go?

Moving between Wichita, Kansas and the North Sea coast of Scotland, this lyrical novel explores the impact of perceived betrayal, the devastation of severed relationships, and the capacity for rebuilding lives haunted by chronic depression and loss.