Remember Mercy

I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, the Sovereign Lord says. Coming of age through suffering in the Great Depression, a wild mountain boy meets a serious young widow. They start a new family only to be separated by World War II. Like a williwaw squall that sweeps the Aleutian islands, the war uproots young dreams, detours voyages, and hides enemy forces. Are Helen's prayers a match for the call of the wild when Sim crosses paths with men who find adventure and fortune with international construction companies? Is psychology or theology a better explanatory frame for the question Robert Frost posed in The Road Not Taken?