Rookery Blues

"UNFORGETTABLE . . . Hassler has skillfully encapsulated an entire world of humanity and emotion in one tiny town in northern Minnesota."
--San Diego Union-Tribune
Rookery State College in the late 1960s is an academic backwater if ever there was one. Then, one frigid afternoon, the Icejam Quintet is born. With Leland Edwards on piano, Neil Novotny on clarinet, Victor Dash on drums, and Connor on bass, the group comes together with the help of its muse, the lovely Peggy Benoit, who plays saxophone and sings. But soon isolated Rookery State will be touched by the great discontent sweeping the country. News of a salary freeze electrifies the rabble-rousing Victor, and the first labor union in the college's history comes noisily to campus. As a teachers' strike takes shape, threatening both the draft-dodging students and the complacent administration, the five musicians must struggle with their loyalties--to the school, the town, their families, and each other. . . .
"IRRESISTIBLY DELIGHTFUL . . . TOUCHING AND UPLIFTING."
--The Orlando Sentinel
"AN UPROARIOUSLY FUNNY, WONDERFULLY SATISFYING SENDUP OF ACADEMIC TOMFOOLERY."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)