Thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for an ARC In exchange for an honest book review.
It is the mid 1960’s. It is a time of free wheeling freedom, discovery and love. Canadian Bill Cosgrave is smuggled into the United States hidden in baskets of hay on the back of a pickup truck. Destination: Los Angeles and the apartment of his friend Mary Werbelow. Secretly in love with Mary, he arrives at her apartment and is introduced to her boyfriend Jim Morrison. Bill quickly forms a bond with the brilliant, shy and caring Morrison.
Mary and Jim would eventually end their relationship but the friendship between Bill and Jim would thrive. Laid-back days spent at the beach in deep conversation, getting stoned with Jim, notebook in hand writing words that would find their way into songs that would affect generations of fans.
The world and the nation was beginning to change. The Vietnam War was looming, life was becoming more precious and Bill was heading back to Canada and a more respectable and responsible way of life.
Jim set out on his journey meeting Ray Manzarek and forming The Doors.
Bill was shocked two years later to learn that this very shy friend of his became a rock star/sex symbol, hIs music and familiar lyrics filling the airwaves and topping the charts.
Never forgetting Mary he searched for her wondering what path her life had taken and was shocked with what he learned.
This is the story of a very different Jim Morrison and it is a story of the hopes, dreams, adventures and the disappointments of a generation.