The Risk of Returning Second Edition

Ted Peterson son of former missionaries to Guatemala returns to that country to solve the mystery of his fathers disappearance. Caught up in a culture of violence and deadly secrets what he learns is as much about himself as his father. A fantastic book. It perfectly conveys the shifting shadows of the time and place of knowing and not knowing of who is a friend and who is not of realities that come and go that may or may not be true. --Virginia Garrard-Burnett author of Terror in the Land of the Holy Spirit: Guatemala Under General Efrain Rios Montt. The real thing a portrait of a country at war that rings true: murky terror long silence intensity hope. --Dennis Smith PCUSA Regional Liaison Brazil and Southern Cone. A luminous richly layered and beautifully written story about memory and resistance. --Gary Dorrien Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics Union Theological Seminary. Full of stir and unfolding the evocations of place--the landscapes and streetscapes and interiors and even the weathers never mere backdrop but an expansion of the paradoxes of beauty and terror. --Eugene Garber author of O Amazonas Escuro. A remarkably haunting novel. I love the characters especially the narrator a reluctant and complex guy. With him we sift through dangerous half-truths decode sleight of hand and weigh the fidelity of the people around him. --Jeanne Murray Walker author of Geography of Memory: A Pilgrimage through Alzheimers. The Nelsons have written a gripping narrative that explores the tragedy and heroism of existing within Guatemalas religious communities. --Robert Brenneman author of Homies and Hermanos: God and Gangs in Central America. With this story the authors remind us of the power of literature to combat political and moral amnesia. It deserves a place next to the very finest political novels. --Chris Robinson Associate Professor of Political Science Clarkson University; co-host of Readers and Writers NCPR Book Show. Shirley and Rudy Nelson have survived over sixty years of marriage and collaboration. Between them they have published four books produced a documentary and contributed to a variety of periodicals and anthol- ogies. They have a really neat family and a lot of great friends. They are also very old.