OUTBOUND FROM VIRGINIA: A Novel

Twenty-year old Will Porter, along with his brother, is thrown out of the house and disinherited after confronting his father over the father’s mistreatment of Will’s mother. Th eir college education cut short, they strike out on their own, traveling through the South during the 1890’s. Th e sudden and unexpected death of his brother leaves Will to manage by himself as he ponders the future— a future that has him heading west to seek his fortune. His western odyssey takes him from Seattle to Chicago—always in search of the next big opportunity. A member of one of the more prominent families of historic Virginia, Will trades on his gentlemanly Southern manners and his sense of entitlement to carve out a living and start a family of his own. But despite his pedigree, he turns egalitarian and populist as the Great Depression takes its toll. Off ended by what he sees around him, he uses satirical, muckraking poetry to target those with economic and political infl uence. Regardless of the hardships he faces, however, Will maintains a deep sense of optimism, symbolic of a generation that confronted a rapidly changing America.