REED MOSS
REED MOSS
A Novel Based on a True Story By Reed Moss
Ririe and Antelope Flats, Idaho are just coming out of the Great Depression when a shock wave shudders through those communities as three tragedies strike. Byron Mason, special native son and Pacific Fleet boxing champion, dies on the battleship Arizona in Pearl Harbor, America goes to war against Japan and Germany, and a beautiful seventeen-year-old girl suffers a heart-rending breakdown.
The Potter and the Clay captures the tenor of those tough times. It weaves into the story the compelling beauty of Southeastern Idaho and Western Wyoming, the adventure of farming and ranching, the gusty humor of the times, how the communities awaken to tolerance for Mary Awoki (popularly known as "Mary Jap") and the special and enlightening intervention of Providence in some of the unfolding events. Gasoline, rubber tires, sugar and other rationings, additional war deaths, the best and worst of nature's elements, and their striking impact on that "Greatest Generation" are all vividly portrayed.
"It wasn't what John had seen in his room at the Grand Hotel the night before that bothered him. He knew what he had seen! The questions buzzing incessantly in his mind were: Why had he seen it? What caused it? What did it mean? Why him? Why now?
Thus plagued, he left the Grand in the early morning, climbed into his battered Model T Ford, and headed north for home. The beautiful spring landscape - green fields and budding blossoms - of Southeastern Idaho escaped his attention. The sun rising brilliantly over the Tetons to the east posed no distraction. He was encased wholly within his mind. Wondering. Pondering. Reliving every detail of that incredible, surreal event.
When Providence moves, a man and his family's destiny is forever shaped by the event. They encounter extreme difficulties and tragedy, yet are guided and lifted through those trying times by what they knew. Their struggles through the Great depression, the tragedies of World War II and their deeply troubling personal heartaches will come vividly to mind as will the land, trees, frost, animals, places, events and people.
Relive that era with this family and search, as they did, for the meaning of life and its tragedies and, hopefully, find comfort in the realization that God does all things well. For does not the Potter have power over the clay?"