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Ghosts of Glencoe - a new novel by Chuck Schwerin

Ghosts of Glencoe is a riveting multi-generational adventure of self-discovery. The novel spans a mere four months, set at a unique junior boarding school, and played out in the rugged Adirondack mountains of New York.

This is a Hero’s Journey for two flawed protagonists, one fifteen, the other sixty-three. Both struggle to be accountable to themselves and to those who love them, for their hubris, betrayals, for the shadows they created and still carry. In their tortuous path to absolution, both discover one is never too young to teach, nor too old to learn.

In the fall of 2002, dramatic events engulf three ninth graders (not the best of friends), their passionate Scottish headmaster, and an unlikely pair of desperate escapees from a nearby prison. The inevitable collision of these forces demonstrates that age and experience have no monopoly on bravery or vulnerability. Only after superficial differences are peeled away can the teens summon the strength to find common ground to confront their frailties under the most trying conditions—lost in the snowy mountains with rescuers desperately trying to find them and the convicts desperately plotting to eliminate them.

Ghosts of Glencoe is a page-turning adventure, set in wilderness that is as much a factor as the characters themselves. The story entertains, educates, and illustrates how the mountaineering mantra—Fellowship of the Rope—embodies the imperative that if we don’t hang together, we will surely hang alone.

 The Adirondacks are magical, but also more complicated than many visitors ever realize. This book helps capture the majesty and the complexity of one of the world's great places. 

· Bill McKibben, author Radio Free Vermont 

Suspenseful, gripping, and fast-paced with adept scene shifting: some unlikely ninth graders from an unusual school collide in a deadly encounter with two escaped convicts in the winter-deep Adirondack woods. Safe-guarded secrets clamor to spring loose, challenging the head-of-school to come to terms with his own shameful past. 

· Laura Waterman, author, Starvation Shore 

Ghosts of Glencoe combines a gripping narrative with a lush and lyrical description of the landscapes they are set within. Mountains and characters come alive in this work that has the finest elements of expedition story, coming-of-age novel, and thrilling adventure. 

· Julia Goren, Adirondack Mountain Club Deputy Executive Director, contributing author, Adirondack Archangels

Chuck Schwerin is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded several medical device and biotech startups, holds three patents on geographic information technology, and taught entrepreneurship at Binghamton University. As a committed environmentalist, Chuck’s volunteer work reflects those passions. Through his editorship, he transformed Adirondack PEEKS magazine for the Adirondack 46ers and produced a quarterly online newsletter for the Edward L. Rose Land Conservancy. 

He is also on the Advisory Board of the World Trails Network-Hub for the Americas that supports field schools and an expedition program, promoting trail conservation, sustainability, and stewardship. His passion for mountains is not only reflected as a central theme in The Ghosts of Glencoe, but has been the impetus for climbing trips on his own, as well as guiding children, to mountain ranges in many parts of the world.