Reunion

When Tom Knowles returns to the Massachusetts town where he grew up to help sell the family house and move his widowed mother, he finds his high school class is having its thirtieth reunion. Without much interest, he attends, and finds his boyhood friend “Brain” McLean still living up to his nickname; Brain has designed a holographic show made from old films of the pregraduation dance they had. The show is cut short by a fierce electric storm, but Tom has already had enough time to get caught up in both the old days and the present lives of his classmates. Although he is eager to get back to Hollywood and learn the fate of a screenplay he has written, he becomes more and more involved, not only in the lives of his former friends, but in the town itself. In a parallel narrative, David Daniel gives an insightful account of Tom’s adolescence: his dying father, his understanding high school teacher, and his contribution to the family by digging clams on the beach. Ultimately, Tom must choose where he will find his reality: in Hollywood or in the past? David Daniel’s latest book is a gripping read about the paths we take in life and what happens when we look back.