Bob Sommer
ISBN 13: 978-0-9797516-1-5
ISBN 10: 0-9797516-1-6
324 pages
Hardcover
$27.95


In this powerful debut novel, Bob Sommer tells the story of a man who has lived with a secret for most of his life. No one has called Peter Howell by his own name since he belonged to a radical student group in the 1960s. After an act of sabotage that turned deadly, Peter escaped and blended into the American landscape. Decades later, he has been reincarnated as a full-fledged citizen and now runs a successful business and enjoys the affluence of the late 1990s with his wife and children. But his life unravels when an ambitious high school reporter uncovers his secret.

So begins an odyssey that takes Peter Howell from his comfortable suburban life to the edge of human survival. The novel also explores the fate of the people in his life, both present and past — his wife and children, and those who knew him as a young man, including the girl who loved him. Where The Wind Blew is a sweeping view of American life told in the lyrical voice of a novelist who will keep you turning pages to the very end, and make you wish there were more.

About the Author

Bob Sommer’s work has appeared widely in literary, scholarly, and commercial publications, including Centennial Review, Studies in American Fiction, American Book Review, New England Quarterly, Southern Humanities Review, New Letters Review of Books, Hudson Valley Magazine, and elsewhere. He is the author of Teaching Writing to Adults and co-author of The Heath Literature for Composition. His recent freelance work and stories have appeared and are forthcoming in The Kansas City Star, Buzzflash, OpEd News, Cantaraville, and other print and on-line publications. He grew up in Hyde Park, New York, and attended Dutchess Community College (A.A.), Marist College (B.A.), SUNY New Paltz (M.A.), and Duke University (Ph.D). He and his wife Heather live in Overland Park, Kansas, where they have raised three children to adulthood.

What the Reviewers are Saying

“Bob Sommer hears the music and voices of the past and gives you what America has become today.”

Mason Williams


"Emotionally taut and historically intriguing..."

Ron Jacobs