Last Night in Twisted River

by John Irving · 2009

When a nervous twelve‑year‑old in a 1954 New Hampshire logging camp mistakes the constable’s girlfriend for a bear, his world erupts into chaos. He and his father become fugitives, chased across Coos County, Boston, southern Vermont and even Toronto by an unrelenting lawman. Their only shield is a fiercely independent logger—once a river driver—who takes them under his wing. Over five decades, John Irving weaves their flight into a sweeping portrait of post‑war America, where grudges fester and freedom is both a promise and a peril. With his trademark lyrical humor and deep compassion, Irving crafts a moving, multigenerational saga that explores the bonds of family, the stubbornness of the human spirit, and the strange, often comic, ways we confront the unknown.