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First-time novelist Dan Chabot spent 35 years in the newspaper business as a writer, editor and columnist, so he is comfortable writing about big-city newsrooms, the primary setting for his inspirational tale of love and loss, despair and redemption.
He grew up in Ontonagon, Michigan, and worked for several newspapers before joining the staff of the Milwaukee Journal. For many years he was the editor of the Journal's popular and beloved Green Sheet feature section.
"This story had been rattling around in my head for a long time," Chabot says. "At the urging of my family, I finally pried it out of there.
"The incident at the heart of the story, a disastrous funeral service, is something that actually happened to a friend of mine a long time ago."
Chabot and his wife, Mary Ellen, now reside in Florida. They are the parents of three grown sons and just recently welcomed a fifth grandchild.
We invite you to pull up a comfortable chair and explore his inspirational love story...
Reviewed by Stephanie Dagg for Readers' Favorite
"Godspeed" by Dan Chabot is many things in one book. There are intrigue, touching but modern romance, anguish, despair, hope and happiness, but above all originality. And it is not often that you come across a book which features funerals and obituaries so centrally. It takes a courageous and ingenious author to weave such an excellent story out of these ingredients and Dan Chabot is such an author. His hero, talented journalist Derry Danaher, is a thoroughly likeable guy with an offbeat sense of humour. Through him we get to see what life on a provincial paper is like. Derry, however, lacks a soul mate but when the gorgeous Amedee walks into the office one day, it looks as if he might have found her. Life is never straightforward, though, but because of Amedee, Derry goes on to make a difference to the lives of a lot of local people in a very generous and unusual way. And he makes a difference to his own life too.
This is one of those books that stick with you after you have read it. It is hugely readable and enjoyable, although you will need to have your hanky at hand, and so it is appealingly unique. Set in the present and the mid-1970s, it is well-paced and peopled by an interesting cast of characters, many of whom are the unusual sort of people you meet in everyday life. The novel takes a realistic look at life and death and celebrates humanity. How exactly? Just read "Godspeed" and you will feel better about the world.
