BEYOND THE NEXT HILL is a work of fiction set in Kentucky in the late 1960s. It is the story of Tyler Bracken, once a troubled youth, now a troubled man. Tyler learns that actions have consequences, sometimes immediate, sometimes far-reaching and that forgiveness is like quicksilver, an elusive act that is tangible one moment and then darts beyond reach the next. Since running away from home at the age of fifteen, Tyler has tried to stay one step ahead of his past. He makes two promises to Big Ralph, the mystical old man who became a second father. One is to bury his friend in Texas. The other is to return to his home in Kentucky and reconcile with his family, leaving behind a sordid life and enough loneliness to fill forty dozen country western songs.