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In his new book, “So Brave, Young and Handsome,” Leif Enger beautifully blends friendship and adventure in a tale rivaling those featuring Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. It is a story of a wonderful time gone by where outlaws look like winking Santas and stories are as big as the West.

Elderly Glendon Hale is just an old boat builder; he doesn’t rob trains anymore. He wants nothing more than to go in search of his wife, whom he abandoned in Mexico decades before when running from the law.

His naive neighbor, Monte Becket, agrees to leave his comfortable porch in Minnesota and tag along on his quest. Barely a day out-of-town, Glendon is recognized as a bank robber and the pair become accidental outlaws running cross-country with a Pinkerton man hot on their trail.

Set in the early 1900s, the road trip is full of splendid surprises. Surprises like a 60-pound snapping turtle, an elephant, a flood, a Tahitian orange orchard, one beauteous lady sharpshooter.

What more could you ask for? Murder? Romance? Relentless villains? It’s all in there. The improbable situations in which these two fumbling fugitives find themselves will amuse and delight you.

“So Brave, Young and Handsome” is funny, touching and improbable but absorbing. It has been compared to “Lonesome Dove” byLarry McMurtry and “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen.

All of these books as well as Enger’s bestselling first book, “Peace Like a River,” can be reserved for pick-up at any branch of the La Crosse County Library in West Salem, Onalaska, Holmen, Campbell or Bangor. These or other good books are on display at your local branch, so stop in soon.

Place reserves online at www.lacrossecountylibrary.com. Click on the book labeled “Catalog” at the top of the page, or you can just call us anytime.

Sharon Aldahl is a La Crosse County Library System staff member at the West Salem branch.