Siam: A Voyage [Paperback]

Steven M. Webb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2009

What if you remembered a life before this one? But didn’t understand why. Until the pieces began to fit. Leon Rose is an Oregon nurseryman, unaware of subconscious memories of sacrifice over the millennia in the service of lost empires. Quiet, unguarded moments in the present bring vivid recall of unresolved emotions from a prior life as an Englishman, reliving the trauma of trench warfare and love lost a century ago. Intense longing for an extraordinary, unattainable English beauty draws him face-to-face with her – in the Orkneys of 1912 and London of 1915. Then and there is here and right now in the emotions of Leon Rose. Sharp memories of British trench assaults in France and Belgium are renewed, including a vow shouted under fire in 1917 to find the profligate one, the individual whom millions held accountable for the horrendous slaughter on the Somme and at Passchendaele in World War I. The vow resurfaces now, almost a century later. Now a prominent planning commissioner in contemporary Elder, Oregon, Leon is part of the expansive ambitions of Jim House, his adopted town’s mayor. But proximity to Jim House triggers Leon’s still-acute bitterness from the trenches, from 1917, and sparks an all-or-nothing commitment to a mayoral election he cannot win. Both men are mysteriously given glimpses of their own soul’s history. Neither can forgive nor forget injustice. Only one will find his way.

Product Details

• Paperback: 630 pages
• Publisher: Noble Woods Press (June 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583852719
• ISBN-13: 978-1583852712
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,454,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can't Wait for the Movie!, October 19, 2009

By 

Kathleen M. Karlsen (Bozeman, MT, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Siam: A Voyage (Paperback)

A couple of weeks ago I received a copy of Siam, the first novel by author Steven Webb. This imposing book (over 600 pages) is a combination love story, war story and a story of modern, small-town politics. Politics and war stories are not usually my thing, but the threads of the story were so interwoven that the three themes built upon each other and the love story sustained my interest and eagerness to see how it all would end.

The idea of memories from past lives affecting the present was a captivating premise and something I had never seen handled in a fiction format. The breadth of life and death and rebirth puts this book alongside the great epics of the past like the generational works of Leon Uris.

What I'm really looking forward to now is seeing this book made into a movie. In short, Siam was born to be a movie. Everything is there for a fantastic ride through both a visual and emotional landscape. Get me a front row seat on opening night!

5.0 out of 5 stars A highly thought provoking read that is worth the consideration, November 9, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Siam: A Voyage (Paperback)

People die, but the souls live on. "Siam" is the story of Leon Rose, an Oregon man in battle over a mayoral seat in a small Oregon town. But nabbing at him are these flashbacks of things he never experienced, and he soon finds that his opponent has something similar. An exploration of past lives and their effects on the present, "Siam" is a highly thought provoking read that is worth the consideration.