New Wayne Johnston novel uplifting coming-of-age story

There are few names as ordinary as Bill Smith.

But it also happens to be the name of a truly extraordinary character familiar to readers of award-winning La Conner author Wayne Johnston.

Johnston, a retired La Conner High English teacher and former tugboat chief engineer and mate, introduced Smith in “North Fork,” his 2016 debut novel, which has since been used in classrooms between here and central California.

In “The Home Stretch,” Johnston’s new release, Smith returns as the narrator in a page-turning, emotionally gripping account that addresses the power of forgiveness on several levels.

Available now at Seaport Books in La Conner, “The Home Stretch” is categorized as autobiographical fiction with Smith’s life journey clearly mirroring that of Johnston.

Just how much so, however, is something Johnston coyly avoids revealing.

“I’m sure the book begs that question,” Johnston told the Weekly News, “but I’d rather keep the focus on whether I succeeded in telling a good story.”

By all accounts he has.

“The Home Stretch,” notes reviewer Jonathan Starke, is a vivid portrait “of a man trying his best to make sense of the complicated path of living with pain and uncertainty.”

The 207-page book is the expanded form of an essay Johnston was writing about the Vietnam War and its impact on the American psyche, a work inspired by a vacation trip to southeast Asia.

“I graduated from high school in 1967, so the Vietnam War had a huge influence on my coming of age,” Johnston explained. “I didn’t have to go, and one of the draws of visiting Vietnam in 2017 was to witness the aftermath of the horror I’d escaped.

“I couldn’t get the essay to feel complete,” he added, “and I kept going.”

There was another factor, too. That being Johnston’s own battle with a life-threatening disease.

“Before the Vietnam trip, about five years ago, I started a project about facing mortality that focused on my experience with leukemia,” he said. “The two projects merged.”

For the book, Johnston also provides snapshots of Smith’s complicated and often difficult relationship with his father.

“The complexity of forgiveness is big,” Johnston said. “Dealing with depression weaves through the story. But facing mortality is front and center.

“My life,” said Johnston, “has been a series of unlikely extensions. I find it hard to believe that I’m over 70, have been allowed two rewarding careers, and am still here to experience time with my kids, grandkids and this interview.”

Johnston said how he and wife Sally arrived in La Conner in 1974 is a story in itself.

“I had an old, very small tugboat that was built in Bellingham in 1927,” he said. “Channel Marine was a thriving wood boat repair business at what is now referred to as the Kirsch property near the south end of the marina. The boat was drydocked at Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes, in need of repair. Someone recommended Channel Marine. We ended up bringing the boat here and falling in love with the town.”

The Johnstons would buy a house here from Skagit Valley College English instructor Glen Turner. They resided in town 30 years before moving near Kiket Island, six miles northwest of La Conner.

Johnston delayed entering the teaching field after graduating from college. Growing up, he had been fascinated by boats. So he went that route before entering the classroom.

“I worked on boats for 22 years,” he said. “Some of boat life is boring, but there are moments, days, that are anything but.”

Ultimately the long periods away from home finally drew Johnston to teaching.

“My love of being on the water couldn’t compete with family life,” he said. “When I started, we worked two weeks on and two weeks off. I knew when I would be home and could plan my life. When that changed to being on-call, I found it much harder. I hated hearing the phone ring. The trip that broke it for me was supposed to last three days but lasted six weeks and took me to Alaska and California. I had a young family and it was time for a change.

“When I got leukemia,” said Johnston, “I decided if I survived, I was done with boats. In college, I wanted to be a teacher, but after a few experiences in classrooms, I decided I wasn’t ready and opted for a degree in writing.”

It was his experiences on the tugs that readied Johnston for a teaching career.

“Working on boats with a crew of men in often trying circumstances gave me the confidence to take on a classroom of high school kids,” he said. “It was still a scary transition and took a few years of adjustment.”

Johnston considers his teaching years at La Conner to have been a high point in his life, made all the more special because Sally was assigned to the school library across the hall from his classroom.

“Teaching is emotionally demanding work,” said Johnston, “but it connected me to people in ways I had avoided prior to that. It made me look forward to each day.”

As a writer, Johnston treats readers to settings and story lines that ring true. In “The Home Stretch” he doesn’t mention La Conner by name, but those who have lived here any length of time will easily recognize the places and landmarks he describes.

“It doesn’t take much inaccuracy to destroy credibility,” Johnston said, “so why risk it on the setting unless it’s absolutely critical to the story.”

As for the name Bill Smith, it, too, has a story.

“When I was changing careers to become a teacher, I was inspired by a real person named Bill Smith,” Johnston said. “The character was named in honor of him.”

Johnston’s fans will be glad knowing they can look forward to reading more about Smith’s students beyond “North Fork” and “The Home Stretch.”

“The Home Stretch” is book two of a planned trilogy,” said Johnston. “North Fork” is presented as journal entries by three 17-year-old high school students. Bill is the English teacher who assigned the journals. The plan is for the third book to explore the lives of the kids as 40-year-olds.

“‘The Home Stretch’,” Johnston said, “is the teacher’s back story.”

And it is one not to be missed.