TIM’S NEW NOVEL – A REFRESHINGLY ORIGINAL COMING OF AGE STORY
WRAPPED AROUND A MURDER MYSTERY

Where Water Collides With Stone  is thoughtfully written and thought provoking. This book, Tim’s third, made its debut April 7th, 2020. Published by Beaver’s Pond Press

Synopsis: Nick Bremmer’s life is like that of any teenager – almost. He’s playful, happy-go-lucky, just crazy about the outdoors, and more than a little up for adventure. He also has a grandfather who’s been accused of murder. Nick’s grandfather went missing years ago, leaving pain and uncertainty in his wake. When an estranged uncle returns home and offers to take Nick on a wilderness canoe trip, Nick sets out, determined not only to bond with his newfound role model, but also to learn the reality behind his grandfather’s disappearance. In a place where nature is stingy with its secrets, will Nick uncover the healing truth of his family’s past? Where Water Collides With Stone is a coming-of-age murder mystery told over three generations. Set in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Maine’s Lake Country, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Canadian Barren Lands, this story of love, loss, loyalty, and surrogate grandfathers takes readers into the heart of nature to find the heart of a family.

The Contemplative Paddler’s Fireside Companion

Description: Tim’s second book, published by North Star Press of Saint Cloud, is a fine companion for any paddler, wanderer, or dreamer with a love for the wild. What you have here is not one more how to manual for paddlers. These pages comprise a why do volume exploring the spiritual core of paddle trip experience.  McDonnell writes with clarity, spirit, and self-effacing good humor.  He takes you along on several amazing wilderness journeys.  Here you will share explorations into the wild that are fueled by something far more substantial than mere adrenaline and far more significant than mere ego.  Wonder, playfulness, gratitude, and introspection are the key ingredients of this well-crafted book.  Each of his essays flares a bit and then lingers with you, just as you would expect from a good fire.

This book received an Honorable Mention at the 29th annual
Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards in 2018.

 

The Whole Forest for a Backyard

Description:  Tim’s first book, published by North Star Press of Saint Cloud, made its debut in 2013. Crafted with an honest sensitivity, this charming book reflects the perspective of a small, free-range boy with a large imagination reared in one of our nation’s most cherished wilderness areas.  It is mostly about the author’s growing up years in the 1950s and 1960s at the resort his parents owned thirty-two miles into the boreal forest from the town of Grand Marais, Minnesota.  Far more than a sentimental journey into the past, here is a story of triumphs, tragedies, and transitions; a story that reveals in full the cathartic powers of nature.  The lessons presented are all the more relevant today.  Our need to reconnect with the wild has never been greater.

Review:  “… the work is all that a memoir should be – engaging from the start, evocative personal history that avoids treacly sentimentality, and chock full of anecdotes that touch one’s heart and tickle one’s funny bone …”

• Linda Gunnarson, former editor for Sierra Club Books

This book was a finalist for the 2013 Northeast Minnesota Book Awards.