{"product_id":"ever-as-it-must-9798998025303","title":"Ever as It Must","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinter, 1776.\u003c\/strong\u003e In the aftermath of Henry Knox's cannon train, a man and his son leave the Continental camp outside Boston and turn north toward home, leading the oxen that helped haul the guns south.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe war moves on.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe man is dying.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe boy must keep to the trail and bring his father home.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat begins as a return journey becomes a passage through a country still unsettled by war. Winter gives way slowly to thaw. Roads disappear beneath snow and mud. Shelter is temporary, strangers are difficult to read, and each mile asks more of the boy than the one before.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis father has taught him how to watch the road, tend the animals, judge danger, and do what necessity requires. But as the man's strength fails, those lessons take on another meaning. The boy is forced toward responsibilities he does not yet understand and choices for which there is no simple measure of right or wrong.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlong the way, father and son move through a landscape marked by war but inhabited by ordinary lives: farmers, travelers, soldiers, families, and others trying to find their own way through an uncertain country. What passes between them is often small: food offered, a fire shared, a warning given, a kindness remembered.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEver as It Must\u003c\/em\u003e is a literary historical novella about history, place, memory, and the quiet ways people endure. It is a story about what remains after war, the work of loving someone, and what a son carries forward when his father can carry no more.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Isadore Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798998025303\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 128\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.40lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.30d","brand":"Michael Conlin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53459266699445,"sku":"9798998025303","price":12.74,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/9798998025303.jpg?v=1791297895","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/ever-as-it-must-9798998025303","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}