Sweeter Life

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

Tim Wynveen won the Commonwealth Best First Book Prize for his novel
Angel Falls. In this epic novel, the Southern Ontario author mines and
refines personal background material. Leamington, Canada’s tomato
capital, becomes Wilbury, an apple-growing community. Cyrus Owen, the
protagonist, is a country boy-turned-backup musician, like his creator,
who toured with Chris De Burgh and other performers. Few view the
aforementioned artist as the ultimate musician. Instead, Wynveen creates
Jimmy Waters, a mad redneck genius who snubs the network TV programs
American Bandstand and Saturday Night Live in order to pursue his
visions. When Cyrus’s manager, Ronnie Conger, is maimed by his loan
shark’s enforcer, his old protégé offers to participate in a benefit
concert, pointing out that he owes “Ronnie more than I could ever
repay.” Perceptive types will realize that if Waters did not sue
Conger, the latter would not have needed a loan.

Wynveen’s sense of justice reaches beyond the poetic. Cyrus’s
brother Hank, a paraplegic ex-convict, realizes that he murdered a gas
station attendant in a robbery because he hated his stupid manner. Yet
he hired the mentally impaired Po Mosely, a man less intelligent than
his victim, for his new trailer park. This choice signals a fundamental
attitude change—a true transformation.

Sweeter Life is a novel in which authentic experiences are combined
with creative insights to produce an interesting and challenging saga.