Ghosts of Glencoe

Ghosts of Glencoe is a riveting multi-generational adventure of self-discovery. The novel spans a mere four months, set at a unique junior boarding school, and played out in the rugged Adirondack mountains of New York. This is a hero’s journey for two flawed protagonists, one fifteen, the other sixty-three. Both struggle to be accountable to themselves and to those who love them, for their hubris, betrayals, for the shadows they created and still carry. In their tortuous path to absolution, both discover one is never too young to teach, nor too old to learn. In the fall of 2002, dramatic events engulf three ninth graders (not the best of friends), their passionate Scottish headmaster, and an unlikely pair of escapees from a nearby prison. The inevitable collision of these forces demonstrates that age and experience have no monopoly on bravery or vulnerability. Only after superficial differences are peeled away can the teens summon the strength to find common ground to confront their frailties under the most trying conditions-lost in the snowy mountains with rescuers urgently trying to find them and the convicts desperately plotting to eliminate them. A page-turning adventure set in wilderness that is as much a factor as the characters themselves, Ghosts of Glencoe entertains, educates, and illustrates how the mountaineering mantra-Fellowship of the Rope-embodies the imperative that if we don’t hang together, we will surely hang alone.

Chuck Schwerin is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded several medical device and biotech startups, holds three patents on geographic information technology, and taught entrepreneurship at Binghamton University. As a committed environmentalist, Schwerin’s volunteer work reflects those passions. Through his editorship, he transformed Adirondack PEEKS magazine for the Adirondack 46ers and produced a quarterly online newsletter for the Edward L. Rose Land Conservancy. He is also on the Advisory Board of the World Trails Network-Hub for the Americas that supports field schools and an expedition program, promoting trail conservation, sustainability, and stewardship. His passion for mountains is not only reflected as a central theme in The Ghosts of Glencoe, but has been the impetus for climbing trips on his own, as well as guiding children to mountain ranges in many parts of the world.