The Mascot of Sweet Briar Gulch

In the dust-choked gold mines of Sweet Briar Gulch, a discouraged miner named Jim Felton has lost both his gold and his nerve. Rejected by the woman he loves and defeated by an earth that refuses to yield its treasure, Jim exists in quiet desperation until fate drops a street-smart boy named Chescheela Jim onto his doorstep. What begins as an act of reluctant kindness becomes something neither expects: a partnership that remakes both their lives. When disaster strikes the mine and Jim is trapped in darkness, it is the small, desperate boy who digs through rock and fear to save the man who gave him a home. This is a story about how the forgotten find each other, how courage hides in unexpected places, and how one act of choosing another person can mean the difference between a life merely endured and a life truly lived. Phillips writes with plainspoken warmth about the American wilderness, the loneliness of men who mine the earth, and the way children can save the adults who think they're beyond saving.