It's June of 1965 when Wrecker enters the world. The war is raging in Vietnam, San Francisco is tripping towards flower power, and Lisa Fay - a young innocent from a family farm down south - is knocked nearly sideways by life as a single mother in a city she could barely manage to navigate on her own. Three years later, she's alone again. Kids aren't allowed in prison. And Wrecker, scared silent, furious, and hell-bent on breaking every last thing that crosses his path, is shipped off to live with distant relatives in the wilds of Humboldt County. Raising Wrecker is the story of this nearly-broken boy whose presence turns a motley group of isolated eccentrics into a real family. Real enough to make mistakes. Real enough to stick together in spite of everything ready to tear them apart. There's no guidebook to mothering for Melody, who thought the best thing in life was eighty acres of old growth along the Mattole River and nobody telling her what to do - until this boy came along. For Melody, Len, Willow, Ruth, Meg and Johnnie Appleseed, life will never again be the same once Wrecker signs on. And for Lisa Fay, there's one thought keeping her alive through fifteen years of hard time: one day, she'll find her son and bring him home.
