The Good Guy List

Book excerpt: To look at them, David and Patrick Joyce couldn't be less alike. Their birth compounds the heartbreak of their recently widowed mother, and from their first days, the twins follow separate paths. David--dark, scrawny, and cerebral--stays on the family farm, where he immerses himself in the study of language, genetics, music, and philosophy. Patrick, a gentle giant, light of hair and heart, is sent to the home of a wealthy aunt along the beaches and dunes of Lake Michigan, a shy child thrust into a life of unexpected privilege and sophistication. Each brother finds--and loses--friendship and love, passion and conviction, innocence and faith. Coming of age in 1960s mid-America, the Joyce twins are shaped by the changes sweeping the nation, while friends and family fight to hold them steady. As their lives diverge, collide, and intertwine, Patrick and David each seek peace and the meaning of their own creation.