* 2015 Library Journal Self-e Collections (Featured Selection)
* 2014 USA Best Book Award (Finalist: Fiction:Literary)
* 2014 Independent Publishers Book Award - Silver Medal (Best Reg'l Fiction, Canada-east)
* 2014 New York, Hollywood, San Francisco and Great Northwest Book Festivals (Hon. Men. Fiction)
"A beautifully written, engrossing family epic." Kirkus
"Young's intense focus on the natural world provides imagery of glistening beauty." PW
"A sweeping debut of enduring but tragic love..." Pasadena Now
"... rich with images... highly recommend it." American Library Assoc.
There are many ties that bind, and as many walls that divide. Music and deafness. Race and war. Love and unending time. Strum weaves together each element into a larger human tapestry of light and shadow, where a combination of fate and decision can define a family's legacy.
Bernard, a deaf young woodworker, is drawn into an old growth forest in rural Québec. Summoned there by the spirits of his Iroquois and European great-grandparents, he witnesses a colossal 800-year-old cedar fall literally at his feet, and nearly loses his life salvaging a portion of the great tree to craft two guitars worthy of the music he hears.
Across two centuries and four continents, this tale of family, spirits, and music, paints upon the world's large canvas an intimate story of enduring love and how the mysterious forces that divide us can also bring us together.
"Young's debut novel delights the reader in a mesmerizing story you can't stop reading. Definitely a page turner!" ~ F. Vargas, American Library Association
