When George Hammon’s teenaged wife dies in childbirth in 1914, he flees small-town Iowa for Europe and the horrors of the Great War. Surviving battles, homelessness, and disease, he squanders his days on women and wine, trying to forget his lost love. But life is not idle in Iowa during his absence, and when a bitter and weary George comes home twenty-two years later, he finds a web of murder, suicide, and shocking revelations.

The future of his family rests on one terrible choice…but is he prepared to make it? Spanning the years 1893 through 2009, “Hammon Falls” weaves a tapestry of estrangement, loss, love, sacrifice, and redemption.

“Hoing and Hileman lead the reader with consummate skill through a complex tale of young lovers, manipulative parents, and human failings which have repercussions that outlast generations. Hammon Falls is brilliant; a waltz through time, changing partners. With carefully crafted prose, the authors seamlessly transport us from character to character, across an ocean and twelve decades, into the present, when a new generation may at last rise above the sins of the fathers. This haunting, lyrical story will stay with you long after you turn the last page.”

-Carol Kean

Read the first three chapters by clicking on the link below:

Chapters 1-3