Somerset

"Somerset" is a novel about an extraordinary family. Set initially in northeastern Arkansas, it builds upon the loss of a husband and father to suicide and the effect that this has on his wife Emily and daughter Amanda. Judge Emily Somerset has raised a family, practiced law, and served as a respected member of the judiciary. Her daughter Amanda, living in the shadow of her mother's accomplishments, feeling inadequate and without any sense of direction, has nevertheless completed law school, survived divorce, and established herself in a professional career on Capitol Hill. Amanda's older brother, Bogan, has lost touch with the family. After a divorce, he has traveled to South America-- to Peru in the midst of civil war kept alive by a revolutionary group called Sendero Luminoso.Stunned by her husband's suicide, Emily re-examines her life and decides to retire, to search for her son, and to recruit her daughter to join her. Together, striving to find Bogan, both mother and daughter begin to understand more about themselves. Bogan becomes entangled within a more treacherous situation than expected, while discovering the chance to achieve something far more significant than he could ever have imagined."Somerset" is a story about a quest: a search for a particular person but then also a search for purpose. It involves a quest for redemption: with different characters struggling in their own ways to correct what each sees as a life of misplaced priorities.