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The Book of Mathew L.

By David Culp

Mathew Larsen is struggling to make it in the big leagues: to academic success, to the top of the mountain. He grew up a loner in a large family in a small town, with sisters who neglect him and a brother who loved him but left too soon. When he gets to grad school, in the 1960s, he knows he's got the talent. But, as often happens, life gets busy. There’s a lot to distract Mathew from finishing his Ph.D. thesis. His long-time partner, a math professor, has "emotional issues". Their daughter Linda too quickly becomes a teen. He needs to balance the loving and feeding of his eclectic family with earning a living, social justice ambitions, and the temptations that pop up on a university campus. Linda has social justice ambitions of her own. He begins to understand that the challenges can give him strength. And that his adolescent experiences with his siblings can promote maturity. One day Mathew and Linda set out on the road to the mountains of North Carolina to support some Black hospital workers seeking to unionize, facing a racist management. This is the journey to the mountaintop that could get him a Ph.D. and lift him out of his grad student grind. The Book of Mathew L. is the tale of that journey.