In The Book of Moses, young Moses Mason McGee begins his criminal life — stealing from drug dealers and dishonest public servants — when he turns eighteen and exits The Bridle Foundation orphanage. When he saves enough money from these illicit activities, he searches for his biological family, crisscrossing the state of Iowa. Moses knows little of his identity and seeks a way to define himself. 

In perfect geographic parallel to Moses, but decades before, Angus Robertson, known as The Scot — variously bootlegger, cartographer, philanthropist, and reluctant murderer — hikes the same back roads as Moses. The older man seeks to create the definitive map of Iowa — recording every building and person — with his mother’s grave at its center. He knows the task is impossible, but his obsession propels him onward. The Scot finds and loses love. As he travels, he senses Moses’ presence in the future and communicates with the younger man across time via handwritten messages stashed along their aligned paths. The two can catch fleeting glimpses of the other across time.

The Book of Moses, a 110,000-word novel written in alternate chapters, offers a unique narrative structure that follows the intertwined lives of Moses and The Scot and their encounters. Though separated by time, both men know the other’s existence. The novel explores the themes of longing, aging, and seeking to discover one’s place in the universe.