The Codger and the Sparrow

After losing his wife and daughter in a car accident, 65-year-old Hank O’Sullivan spends his days drinking, hoping to blunt the pain. When he assaults a man in a bar fight, he is sentenced to community service. On his first shift picking up trash, he wanders into a stand of trees and meets 16-year-old Luis Delgado, who, after being caught trespassing, is also completing community service hours. Luis lives with his father, but he is searching for something more. Despite the age difference, Hank and Luis forge a friendship. When Hank decides to drive to Houston to see an old high school flame, Luis tags along, hoping to reconnect with his long-estranged mother. Though neither finds exactly what they’d been seeking, their unexpected friendship helps them weather their many adventures. Semegran (The Benevolent Lords of Sometimes Island) imagines an unusual relationship that comes along just in time to create a bridge from old lives to new ones. His quirky characters are interesting and believable. Narrator Brian P. Craig proves vocally versatile, seamlessly shifting from the gravelly tones of Hank to the youthful voice of Luis.