The first book by the younger son of dear friends, this memoir tells the story of how the 20 year old Axelrod responded to a terrible accident in which he lost an eye.  After spending a year in Bologna, Italy on a Rockefeller fellowship and travelling around the US, he retreats to a rustic cabin isolated in Vermont’s Northern Kingdom.  There he discovers the harsh reality and the beauty of both nature and solitude.  His descriptions of Vermont’s four seasons, especially winter, are quite lyrical, as he struggles to discover who he is and what his life might be.  There are many passages of brilliant prose in this first book, one of many, one hopes, to come.