This engaging Canadian fiction captures the summer of 1952. It's a powerful coming-of-age story that explores the rigid family life and gallantry of a young man named Ely Goodfellow. A Promising Wind is a well-crafted novel attractive to a broad range of readers. Ely is compelled to suddenly leave his parents' thin-soiled prairie farm and jump a freight train destined for Nova Scotia. Ely's spirit and beliefs are constantly challenged by a mixture of eclectic characters inhabiting the story. Multiple story strands intertwine and the veiled tone of the narrative leaves us with a sense of secrets hidden everywhere. Ely emerges as a young man of considerable strength and courage.