The Lawnmower Club

Leo Zitzelberger's well-ordered paradise plunges into chaos when Liza Fitting, an overzealous social worker, tries to funnel him into Mallard Pond, a retirement home that Leo regards as a death sentence. As a clever countermeasure, he buys a bankrupt golf course and sells memberships to other grass-cutting fanatics who have lost their homes and yards. Few people want the former repo man to succeed, including Hazzard Pembrook, a third-generation resorter, who would restore the club as a bastion of the rich, and a rogue Wisconsin cougar who wants to establish a new territory. This tender, comic, and lyrical novel takes readers to the shimmering edge of reality for an exuberantly wild ride through the broad fields, wooded hills, and inland waterways of northern Michigan. Vividly worded, filled with eccentric characters, and suspenseful action, Randy surrounds everyday detail with a world of magic, while he explores the role of contemporary women in disparate settings, the different interests of locals and transplants in America's heartland, and the plight of animals in an ever-shrinking world. The Lawnmower Club is an uplifting tale about the importance of love, home, and after losses and setbacks, redemption.