The Caretaker of Lorne Field

If ever there was a story where the weight of the world rested on the shoulders of one man, this is it.

For three hundred years the heir of the Durkin family has sacrificed all dreams and opportunity to pull weeds from Lorne Field. From sun up to sun down, from first thaw to first frost, he must pull the "weeds" before they grow too high and too strong; before they grow mature enough to fight off the Caretaker, before they grow able to tear themselves from the soil and destroy the world. As a result of the family's dilgence, the field remains tended and the weeds have not matured. As a result of this good work and sacrifice, the town that supports the Caretaker and his work has grown out of their belief in the old stories.

But Jack Durkin, ninth heir and current Caretaker, believes--in the face of scorn from his wife and eldest son, and the growing scorn of the community who has always supported his ancestors--he believes and labours through all manner of mockery and indignity. But every man has a limit and Dave Zeltserman's sharply characterized, pulp-like novel tests for Jack's while positioning the to reader wonder whether Jack and his forebears are mad, or the day by day saviours of the human race.