Sacred Trust

“The Monkey Wrench Gang Meets the Third Industrial Revolution” “An existential environmental time bomb threatens to explode an entire way of life for the people of New Hampshire’s North Country. Nine unlikely heroes are all that stand between the people and their worst fears . . . This is their story.

Sasha Brandt, an Iroquois woman from Canada, is hiking the Mahoosuc Range with her companion, a wolf named Cochise. There she meets Daniel Roy, a guide and outdoorsman. After a unique first encounter the three continue their trip together ultimately finding themselves camping with an unusual assortment of people including a former Olympic paddler, a deer farmer, a retired spook - the first US victim of Lyme disease - and an iconoclast named Thomas who lives in multiple backwoods abodes in the Great North Woods and rides a moose named Metallak. They discover that they have one very important thing in common . . . a deep concern about a private consortium proposing to bring a power line with massive 150 foot towers through the most beautiful parts of the state, transporting electricity from Canada to the toney suburbs of Boston and beyond, posing an existential threat to an entire way of life. Determined to do more than shuffle papers and employ lawyers, the compatriots form a band of brothers and sisters - along with Cochise and Metallak - calling themselves "The Trust".

Armed with only their wits and a lot of heart they embark on a rolicking campaign of civil disobedience that would make Thoreau proud. Teachers and professors will find this novel a great resource. Adding a new dimension and lively discussion to classes on sustainability, or the American tradition of protest.