Toots in Solitude — John Yount

Funny, suspenseful, tender, and wise—the story of a man who took to the woods, and the woman who found him there Soon after his fortieth birthday, Macon “Toots” Henslee left his home, his job, and his marriage to live in a tree house. Lots of people—his wife especially—thought that he had lost his mind, but from his perch atop a Tennessee riverbank, Toots could see plainly the insanity of his old life. He had become a man who said and did the opposite of what he wanted to say and do—what could be crazier than that? Nine years later, Toots is out fishing one morning when he catches sight of a nervous young woman hiding behind a sycamore. Sally Ann Shaw is an aspiring country singer in trouble—the kind of trouble that comes with a briefcase full of stolen drug money and a pair of hired thugs in hot pursuit. A hermit’s tree house is the perfect hiding place, but in such close quarters, Toots and Sally Ann have more than gangsters to fear. For a man who gave up everything to start life over again and a woman in desperate need of a hero, love may be the most dangerous game of all. Hailed by the New York Times as “a tale written with zest and read with pleasure,” Toots in Solitude is a novel as eccentric, endearing, and irresistible as its unforgettable main character.