Joe Burke's Last Stand

Joe Burke is 50 and doesn't know what to do with the rest of his life. His daughter, Kate, by a first marriage, is doing well; his second marriage has ended in a friendly divorce. He is handsome, capable, and energetic, the kind of person who sees more clearly and is happier in motion. He puts clothes, tools, and a few boxes in his truck and leaves Maine hoping to sort things out on the road.
An attractive stranger tempts him to stay in Brattleboro, Vermont, but he continues to Woodstock, N.Y., where he grew up. He leaves boxes with his old friend, Morgan, and drives across the country. In Seattle, he visits Kate and gives her a painting from his father, an artist retired in Maine. He meets an interesting woman, Mo, in the Elliot Bay Book Company and decides to leave his truck with Kate and fly to Hawaii where he once lived.
Joe stays in Hawaii for the next few years, returning to the mainland for Kate's wedding in the San Juan Islands, and, later, flying to Maine when his father dies unexpectedly. Mo turns up. They begin a friendship. Morgan visits, as does Max, Joe's stepson from his second marriage. Joe falls in and out of a relationship with a conservative Christian. A nineteen year old, Rhiannon, tries to draw Joe scribbling in notebooks in a cafe that they both habituate. They become friends.
A true love from Joe's earliest adult days comes to Honolulu after the death of her husband. Their meeting brings into focus what Joe has learned since leaving Maine. He understands how he will make his last stand.
The novel is well written. The people are convincing, and the places are very real. It is a breakout book for the author who had previously published several collections of poetry. First novels offer the special pleasure of feeling the author finding his or her voice, gaining confidence on the way to the resolution of the need that impelled the story. Between the lines, this is an account of an artist's birth, a celebration of trusting life and confronting the unknown.