Better Angel - by Caryn Green (Paperback)

About the Book

A journalist's true-life journey recalling a transcontinental train trip taken in Autumn 2017, with speculations on how her lifelong American hero Abraham Lincoln would react to the reality of 21st century America.

Book Synopsis

On a politically charged, overheated autumn afternoon in 2017, one progressive, patriotic freelance reporter is about to encounter her idol-and he needs a favor. It's her hour upon the stage - her last, best chance to stand up for her principles - to insure her name will be inscribed on that Permanent Record in the sky - to travel cross country in an Amtrak coach with her favorite ghost, who could resist! Two comrades, a road, a quest; it's the oldest plot in the West.

But there's a catch.

Now she must decide whether to risk the ultimate to guide him to a certain California bridge, to fulfill a mission he can't explain and trust the outcome to fate.

A magical memoir mashup of scrupulous fact with a dash of fantasy and strong dose of partisan protest stirred in, this slyly satiric genre-bender braids historical events with contemporary American life. It's a journey in both the literal and metaphorical sense, rolling against the backdrop of a deeply polarized U.S.

Until it stops.

On a stalled Superliner in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, among an ensemble cast of real-life randoms on journeys of their own, the ghost is forced to confront his complex legacy while the reporter parses unresolved issues from her past. And always the moment at the bridge awaits, where the reason for the visit will be finally be revealed.

Exploring what is remembered, what is forgotten, and who controls the narrative, the story chronicles one citizen's passage from cynicism to acceptance to a profound sense of faith-with plenty of humor and pathos and a little poetry along the way.

If you're that person who always turns out to vote, who aced every U.S history test-if you can tell us your scariest-ever Twilight Zone or all-time favorite Star Trek-if the urge to travel is baked into your bones, and hard wired into your brain, this book is for you.

COME ABOARD THE TRAIN