Daniel Thomas lies in a pit of chicken excrement. He has been there for hours and when the paramedics are unable to resuscitate him a call is made to his son, Joshua, who is away at school. Being left without parents and no longer tied to his hometown, Joshua sells the family farm and moves to Chicago.
Time Spent Away is Joshua’s account of himself as he works through grief and love, the opportunities and dangers of the city, the joys and limits of wealth and art and what it means to seek after God in a place where such a search seems irrelevant.
Reality instructors, Felix Servo, an historical preservationist who organizes an artist’s colony; Roland Charles, a small-time criminal with aspirations toward influence; and Liz McCormick, an underemployed philosopher will encourage and demand, cajole and forgive as Joshua makes his way toward understanding his place in the world. In between walking tours of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods, Joshua will discover an architectural archeologist, the colony’s artists, and their work, a basketball prodigy and a maniacal cab driver. Through it all, Joshua remembers his dad, their life on the farm together and determines how best to proceed in something as transitory as life.

Andrew Mitin lives in Michigan. This is his first novel.


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