Debut Novel Explores Invisible Wounds, Power of Storytelling

A new novel by author, scholar and Hal Prize fiction winner Scott A. Winkler, Ph.D. debuts his first novel, The Meadow: A Novel, April 27. Set in rural, Mid-America in 1968, the book’s main character, Walter Neumann, is torn between two visions for his future: his own, which finds him attending college and pursuing a scholarly life, and his father Otto’s, which envisions Walt serving in Vietnam as Otto had served in World War II. An unexpected accident allows Walt to follow his dream, but his relief is temporary as long-hidden family secrets come to light, threatening to shatter the world as Walt knows it.

The Meadow is a novel of love, sacrifice and service set in America’s heartland, but the questions and answers it poses and explores are timeless and universal.

While this is Winkler’s first novel, he is no stranger to finding his work in print. A veteran high school English teacher by day, Winkler has published fiction, poetry and academic work in publications ranging from Peninsula Pulse and Verse Wisconsin to The Journal of Popular Culture and Contemporary Short Story Criticism. He and his wife live in rural Wisconsin with their two daughters. For more information visit scottawinkler.com.