Damnation Spring

“Rich’s heart skipped. He’d walked 24-7 Ridge every morning of his adult life. His great-granddad had dreamed of buying it, and that dream had been handed down through the generations until it landed, heavy, on Rich.”

This is Rich’s reaction to the news that Jim Mueller might be ready to sell the fabled 24-7 Ridge. Rich’s attachment to it goes beyond the rational, and he feels, in some way, it must be his destiny to own it. That would make him the first Gundersen to not only harvest the timber there, but to transform the family’s fortunes after years of virtual serfdom in Sanderson country.

“Not a lot of guys are born to do something.”

Lark seems to read Rich’s mind as they discuss the 24-7 Ridge. Here, he reinforces the notion that Rich might be fated to take over the local landmark. The words are worth remembering: At the end of the novel, they return on the deed that Lark leaves in his carved box, showing he has paid off the loan on the land in full.

“They’d hardly spoken since the hospital at Easter. Miscarried, as if, five months pregnant, Colleen had made some stupid mistake, some error in posture, in loading or lifting. And now here they were, the first Sunday in August, Chub about to start kindergarten, an only child.”

This interior moment from Colleen neatly sums up the Gundersens’ familial situation in the story. Despite how much Colleen and Rich love each other, communication is breaking down between the two. And Colleen’s latest miscarriage weighs heavily on her, which will lead her to take decisions based on protecting—and growing—her family.