Frank and Jake eventually reveal this information to Gus, a war buddy of Frank’s father who lives in the basement of the Methodist church across the street from the Drum family home. Redstone identifies the dead man as “The Skipper,” an itinerant who may have served in WWII. After hearing a group of adults discuss Cole’s death, Frank and Jake head to the railroad tracks and trestle, where they come upon a Native American male, Warren Redstone, standing over the corpse of an adult male at the river’s edge. The first death of the summer is Bobby Cole, a developmentally-disabled, adolescent boy who is hit by a train and killed while sitting on a railroad trestle that spans a stretch of the Minnesota River. Lise loathes to be touched, so much so that when she is, she flies into uncontrollable panic and rage. Lise gets along well with Jake and is devoted to her brother, Emil, but largely untrusting of everyone else in New Bremen. Lise is deaf and lives with Emil in a converted farmhouse on the edge of town, where she spends the majority of her time gardening. Due to Jake’s speech disorder, he has a special relationship with Lise Brandt, Emil Brandt’s sister. He is consistently the voice of conscience over the course of the book, often serving as the proverbial angel on Frank’s shoulder. Jake Drum, Frank’s younger brother, has a stutter and is more devout than his cynical older brother. The tension between Nathan, Frank’s father, and Emil is palpable in multiple moments over the course of the book.

Emil was also engaged to Frank’s mother, Ruth, before running out on her to seek fame in New York City, prior to his move to Hollywood. Emil has returned to New Bremen blind and disfigured from a war injury prior to serving, he was a successful music composer in Hollywood, “finding easy work in the music side of the film business…and in with a good-time Hollywood crowd” (63). Ariel also helps Emil Brandt, Karl’s uncle, with transcribing his memoir. Her boyfriend, Karl Brandt, is the son of wealthy local beer magnates, and lives in the Heights, New Bremen’s wealthier area, while the Drums live in the Flats, which is middle- and working-class. Ariel, a talented singer and pianist, is eighteen years old and has been accepted to Juilliard for the following fall semester.

Ruth, despite her presence in the church, is not a true believer she drinks, smokes, and questions God’s existence over the course of the book.įrank has an older sister, Ariel, and a younger brother, Jake. After college, Nathan had planned to be a lawyer, but served in World War II and came back a changed and devout man.

Frank’s mother, Ruth, leads choir for church services. Frank’s father, Nathan, is a Methodist minister for three area churches in and around New Bremen.

Ordinary grace