Graveled Ways

John McIlvain, a great-grandson of automotive pioneer John Dodge, evokes his childhood and adolescence in a series of episodes that capture a bygone era. The author brings to life his father's "farm" in Kent, the family's stately homes in Mill Neck, Grosse Pointe and Manchester-by-the-Sea, as well as the Newport of the 1950s. In describing an upbringing where governesses ruled, he recreates the imaginary exploits and fantasies of heroism he and his bothers invented for themselves....
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John McIlvain, a great-grandson of automotive pioneer John Dodge, evokes his childhood and adolescence in a series of episodes that capture a bygone era. The author brings to life his father's "farm" in Kent, the family's stately homes in Mill Neck, Grosse Pointe and Manchester-by-the-Sea, as well as the Newport of the 1950s. In describing an upbringing where governesses ruled, he recreates the imaginary exploits and fantasies of heroism he and his bothers invented for themselves. Sheltered and privileged, he finds himself unprepared for almost every challenge he encounters, whether it is adjusting to the insular world of the boarding school he is sent to at twelve, meeting the demands of a month long canoe trip at sixteen, or unraveling the mysteries of the opposite sex.

In rich prose peppered with the author's own poetry, Graveled Ways tells the story of a youth who is tempted by everything his peers embrace and who only gradually comes to reflect upon his actions. Family and friends, mentors and tormentors, populate the scenes that depict his journey from boyhood through adolescence, culminating in an event that makes him realize it is time to abandon the illusions that have protected him.