The Trackers by Charles Frazier

 Asheville native son Charles Frazier’s April release, The Trackers, was sparked by a moment spent in the Boone, NC, post office where one of the Depression-generated murals remains. This led him to further research in which he found a photograph of two painters on a scaffold working on a mural being observed by a well-dressed couple. He knew there was a story there, and 10 years later this novel was born.

Valentine “Val” Welch, working on a commission from the New Deal to paint a mural in the Dawes, Wyoming, post office, becomes drawn into the lives of his hosts, John and Eve Long, a rich couple with a large spread in the Cowboy State. Over the course of time, Val finds himself a little in love with Eve who has shared that she was an itinerant worker as a teenager and a night club singer before marrying Long. The ranch foreman, a horse whisperer named Faro, befriends young Val, and offers some insight about the Longs.

Long has been pushing hard in Cheyenne with political aspirations while Eve finds herself being used as arm candy with her husband’s many supporters. Eve soon rejects this lifestyle and is on the run with a Renoir painting to fund her way out. With the mural 80% finished, Long pulls Val from painting to track Eve to find out where she has gone, why she quit the marriage, and, most importantly, who she really is as Long believes he does not know the woman he married.

Long’s research forms Val’s quest that takes him to the Great Northwest, to the Florida swamps, and finally to San Francisco. Val’s journey is not a pleasure trip as he is thwarted by people living in Hoovervilles, finds himself prisoner of a family in the swamps, and is pursued by another who is also searching for runaway Eve.

Frazier has created a complex story of several  common people struggling during the Depression contrasted with Long who represents the rich who were able to maintain their fortunes during this period.  Frazier’s extensive research provides a real feel for the time period through politics, cars, art, architecture, and even a mention of the missing Amelia Earhart.

 Charles Frazier received the North Carolina Award for literature in 2008. His first novel, Cold Mountain (1997), won the National Book Award for Fiction. His other titles include Thirteen Moons (2006), Nightwoods (2011), and Varina (2018). Frazier was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and grew up in Andrews and Franklin.  After years of raising show horses in central Florida, Frazier and his wife built a home in Asheville.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting March 9, 2023.

I would like to thank Ecco, HarperCollins, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.