{"product_id":"the-poet-of-tolstoy-park-a-novel","title":"The Poet of Tolstoy Park: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe more you transform your life from the material to the spiritual domain  the less you become afraid of death. Leo Tolstoy spoke these words  and they became Henry Stuarts raison detre. The Poet of Tolstoy Park is the unforgettable novel based on the true story of Henry Stuarts life  which was reclaimed from his doctors belief that he would not live another year.  Henry responds to the news by slogging home barefoot in the rain. Its 1925. The place: Canyon County  Idaho. Henry is sixty-seven  a retired professor and a widower who has been told a warmer climate would make the end more tolerable. San Diego would be a good choice.  Instead  Henry chose Fairhope  Alabama  a town with utopian ideals and a haven for strong-minded individualists. Upton Sinclair  Sherwood Anderson  and Clarence Darrow were among its inhabitants. Henry bought his own ten acres of piney woods outside Fairhope. Before dying  underscored by the writings of his beloved Tolstoy  Henry could begin to perfect the soul awarded him and rest in the faith that he  and all people  would succeed  even if it took eons. Human existence  Henry believed  continues in a perfect circle unmarred by flaws of personality  irrespective of blood and possessions and rank  and separate from organized religion. In Alabama  until his final breath  he would chase these high ideas.  But first  Henry had to answer up for leaving Idaho. Henrys dearest friend and intellectual sparring partner  Pastor Will Webb  and Henrys two adult sons  Thomas and Harvey  were baffled and angry that he would abandon them and move to the Deep South  living in a barn there while he built a round house of handmade concrete blocks. His new neighbors were perplexed by his eccentric behavior as well. On the coldest day of winter he was barefoot  a philosopher and poet with ideas and words to share with anyone who would listen. And  mysteriously  his last few months became years. He had gone looking for a place to learn lessons in dying  and  studiously advanced to claim a vigorous new life.  The Poet of Tolstoy Park is a moving and irresistible story  a guidebook of the mind and spirit that lays hold of the heart. Henry Stuart points the way through lifes puzzles for all of us  becoming in this timeless tale a character of such dimension that he seems more alive now than ever.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44946463850549,"sku":"ByrdShop_034547631X","price":26.8,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780345476319.jpg?v=1769950607","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-poet-of-tolstoy-park-a-novel","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}