A slim, compelling novella beautifully written tells the story of Robert Grainier, whose life of 80 years in Idaho, Washington and Montana is remarkable for its everydayness and significant for its lack of significance for the rest of the world. The heartbreaking tale of the loss of his wife and baby daughter in a forest fire and the contact a decade later with a she-wolf is eerie while the central, allegorical theme of the train—its whistle parallels the wolves’ howl, its progress chomping the northwest, and its symbolism of progress amidst eternal nature. Grainier lived, worked, built, loved, lost, died and the world failed to notice. A reasonable stand-in for all of us.