Winner of the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best American Historical Fiction Francis Gil Gilheaney is a sculptor of boundless ambition but bad fortune and pride have driven him and his long-suffering daughter Maureen into artistic exile in Texas just after World War I When an aging rancher commissions Gil to create a memorial statue of his son who was killed in action Gil believes it will be his greatest achievement But as work proceeds on the statue Gil and Maureen come to realize that their new client is a far more complicated man than they ever expected and that he is guarding a secret that haunts his relationship with his son even in death
