A NEST OF STONES
by Joseph Richards

A co-publication of Harvardwood Publishing and Unlimited Publishing LLC, this debut novel spans half a century of world history from a unique perspective. Although set in the ’60s and ’70s, the story reflects some of the ongoing conflicts of our time: casual sex, betrayal, and disillusionment. Born in one of the few remaining land grant ranches in Southern California, John Brereton grew up in isolated circumstances heavily influence by his mother’s Spanish background. During his Air Corps service in the Second World War and later at Harvard, he had to grapple with a growing awareness of his ambiguous sexual orientation which surfaced again during his first assignment abroad in the Foreign Service. As the narrative develops, the setting moves from France to Spain and New York City, with flashbacks to the progress of an acrimonious divorce. From a childhood rich in promise, Brereton’s tumultuous life results in a fruitless quest for constancy in two disparate worlds.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

After graduating from Harvard in the late '40s, Joseph Richards spent five years in the Foreign Service and then almost thirty years in the business department of The New Yorker Magazine. Following an early retirement in the early ’80s, he opted for a career in the performing arts, initially as the managing director of a modern dance company in Boston. Later, after the company moved to New York City and opened a studio near Lincoln Center, he left the organization to serve on the boards of an Off Broadway production company, a small ballet group and on the National Committee of the Glimmerglass Opera.