A wonderful first novel about Montana, fly fishing, and finding home.

Marshall is learning to love the land. He's in the process of transforming his father's ranch into prime spring creek fishing, literally molding the land as he attempts to fashion himself. He's a guide, along with his two closest friends, Molly and Alton. All three are trying to step out of a youthful fascination with the freewheeling, fish-guiding life, and into a sustainable life on the land and water of Montana. Pale Morning Done is a coming-of place novel, in which Marshall must decide between the woman who wants him and the woman who loves him; between the future desired by his father and the future created by himself; between the truth that will bind and the omission that will free. It is about the tides that toss friends, sometimes against each other, and ultimately unites them against enemies. It is about the delicate balance of our lives that violence can abruptly topple. Beautifully written, this first novel scours the landscape of emotion as it revels in the physical landscape of Montana. Pale Morning Done is sure to place Jeff Hull in the company of other great chroniclers of the new West, including Norman McLean, William Kittredge, and Tom McGuane.