In a small town, three childhood friends—Julie, John, and Robert—forge an unbreakable bond beneath the sprawling branches of a maple tree. As kids, Julie dazzles them with her imaginative adaptations of Shakespeare, igniting their dreams of adventure. Now adults, they’ve taken divergent paths: Julie becomes a globe-trotting activist, Robert a successful lawyer, and John a passionate environmental crusader, often finding himself in trouble for his bold stand against pollution.
As John battles against leaf blowers and other threats to their hometown, he relies on the stories of heroes and the power of their friendship. But can love truly navigate the complexities of their changing world? With Julie’s guiding light illuminating their paths, the trio confronts the realities of adulthood, grappling with the weight of their shared history and the challenges ahead.
John and Julie and Robert is a poignant tale of loyalty, nostalgia, and the enduring ties of friendship as the past and present collide, reminding us that some narratives shape our lives forever.
Praise for John and Julie and Robert
“At once the tale of small-town eco-warriors and the chronicle of a love triangle, Michael Strelow’s new novel is above all a story about the places that shape us and the lengths we’ll go to protect them. John and Julia and Robert fight the scourge of leaf blowers like a Main Street Monkeywrench gang, but even more important, they re-engage the youthful bonds that remind them what makes their community—and their lives—worth fighting for. In language full of wit and sparkling wordplay, Strelow sings these characters, and our fragile world, through a rousing chorus deserving attention, awe, and praise.
—Scott Nadelson, author of Trust Me
"John and Julie and Robert by Michael Strelow is a beautiful literary exploration of the ills of the modern world, softened by the cushion of an indestructible friendship. John, Julie, and Robert have grown from a trio of small-town children, bonded by intelligence and imagination, into three thirty-somethings who rely on that bond for unconditional love and support as they deal with the broken world they have inherited. While Julie wanders the continents to tackle head-on everything all at once, and Robert, at home, chooses the very tangible tool of the law, John takes on environmental devastation as represented by the leaf-blower. John’s cause unites them at a moment in time for one remarkable battle. Strelow’s erudite novel delves deep into the psyches of three gifted crusaders and will lead readers to cheer them on."
—Susan Coventry, author of Till Taught by Pain and The Queen’s Daughter
