James W. Swanson

Toward Byzantium James W. Swanson

As the story begins, Jason Wessman, seated in a hospital waiting room in Seattle, is about to visit his deathly ill cousin and alter ego, Jonah Cannard, from whom he has been estranged. The story involves the two cousins and a neighbor, Wes Jonnamass, who often serves as a counterpoint to the other two. Jason's presence at the hospital is due both to Wes and to a fourth man, Noah, Jason's brother seven years younger, who has encouraged Jason to reunite with the man whom he has loved but disapproved of for several years. From boys to men each in his own way voyages toward an illusive "Byzantium" The author offers vignettes of each man, sailing together and alone, upon a similar sea, at times meeting, at times nearly lost. He shows the reader their impish boyhood adventures, their search for love and meaning, their choices that threaten their ships, and the discoveries that sail them into calm seas. In particular, Jason questions his former judgments. Through Noah's remarkable intervention and the strange circumstances surrounding Jonah's painting Sailing to Byzantium, he comes to understand the choices he and his fellow voyagers have made and the forgiveness, compassion and love among them. Praise for Toward Byzantium "The choice of words, the rhythm of the words, the images the words stimulate, the structure of the sentences, the flow of the paragraphs, the progression of the chapters, the development of the themes-simply superb. Toward Byzantium is a novel about life's journeys, conducted in the company of loved ones and strangers, headed for some destination (Byzantium) that for most of our lives is cloaked in heavy fog, clouding our vision" -Jim Geiwitz, author of Town of Watered Down Whiskey