Joy in Mudville

"'A fast-moving and entertaining romp across country and through time." - Los Angeles Times


"An absolutely joyful novel . . . wonderfully funny and uplifting. A mixture of fact and fantasy, fiction and frolic, this novel skips, jumps, and ultimately flies." - West Coast Review of Books


"McAlpine is a gifted stylist, with clean, clear and muscular prose." - Publisher's Weekly


It’s 1932 and a new star has risen from the east, arching toward Los Angeles. 

A man, woman and child set off by rail from Chicago to follow the star.

Along the way they’ll meet figures from the pantheon of the American imagination – figures who make us the people we are today: Woody Guthrie, Clark Kent, Al Capone, Babe Ruth, the Wizard of Oz and the ghost of Abner Doubleday.

And when the three find their fates, the stars that guide us all will be forever changed.