The Galaxy Bookshop

Border Songs takes place along the Washington-Canada border, in a rural community that isn't so much different from any you might find in northern Vermont. The book is filled with loveable and eccentric characters who are dreaming of something better than the often hardscrabble lives they lead. The possibility of realizing these dreams draws some to the alluring promise of quick money from smuggling drugs and people across the border. In a post-9/11 climate, border security has recently tightened, causing intense (and funny) friction between neighbors on both sides of the ditch that constitutes a border between nations. In the middle of all the madness, Brandon Vanderkool--a gentle giant of a man with a fondness for dairy farming, birds, and art--has unintentionally become the border patrol's best officer, drawing very unwanted attention to himself.