Letters to a Rose

Letters to a Rose is a quickly paced, contemporary narrative that offers a glimpse of the latter 20th Century through the eyes of a child of the Sixties. At the center of this teetering universe is the story's Everyman narrator, who paints vivid images of a troubled generation through entries into his personal journal and letters written to Rosie, his childhood sweetheart and lifelong friend. At one moment, readers find themselves moving casually through the serene waters of boyhood innocence, then shifting to the sudden, head-swirling terror in the steamy jungles of Vietnam, and ultimately returning to the dark, cynical age of self-indulgence that ushered in the 21st Century. Cahill's unusual narrative style evokes the true horror of war, placing his readers in the saddle with the young helicopter door gunner as he struggles to survive over the Vietnam killing fields. Deeply rooted throughout this glimpse of a unique time in American history is the fragile nature of two human hearts beating a perfect rhythm in a dissonant generation that never quite found itself.