Sutter's Cross by W. Dale Cramer
"Sutter's Cross" by W. Dale Cramer is a novel set in a small town in North Georgia, exploring themes of faith, redemption, and the complexities of human relationships. The story unfolds around the community's interaction with a drifter named Harley, whose arrival at a church picnic sparks a series of events that challenge the townspeople's perceptions of holiness and morality. As the narrative develops, Harley, seeking peace and a closer connection to God, contrasts sharply with Web Holcombe, a wealthy developer motivated by ambition and a disconnection from his family.
Through the characters' intertwined lives, Cramer delves into the struggle between self-reliance and surrendering to divine will. The story illustrates how different individuals cope with personal tragedies, such as loss and illness, and how these experiences shape their understanding of faith and community. The novel also addresses themes of acceptance and the misconceptions that can arise within religious contexts, particularly through the character of Orde Wingo, who embodies a narrow view of what it means to be a Christian. Ultimately, "Sutter's Cross" is a compelling narrative about transformation, illustrating how the presence of an unexpected figure can catalyze profound changes in the lives of those around him.
Sutter's Cross by W. Dale Cramer
First published: Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House, 2003
Genre(s): Novel
Subgenre(s): Literary fiction
Core issue(s): Acceptance; redemption; surrender; trust in God
Principal characters
Jake Mahaffey , a construction supervisorLori Mahaffey , Jake’s wifeWeb Holcombe , a millionaire developerMiss Agnes Dewberry , an elderly farm widowHarley , a drifterEddie Holcombe , Web’s sonMarcus , Eddie’s friendOrde Wingo , a Sunday school teacher who attends church with the Mahaffeys
Overview
In Sutter’s Cross, W. Dale Cramer tells the story of people in a small north Georgia town who find their notions of piety, holiness, and faith tested. It is a novel about people learning to place their faith in God rather than in themselves and realizing it is only through trusting in God that you can live a whole and fulfilling life. The novel opens with the Sutter’s Cross Community Church picnic; Jake Mahaffey and his fellow church members and picnickers do not know what to think of the long-haired, greasy drifter, Harley, who happens by the picnic.
When Harley pounces on elderly Agnes Dewberry (to perform the Heimlich maneuver), one of the male members of the congregation mistakes his motives and smashes him in the face. When Harley is taken to the hospital, doctors discover that his jaw has already been broken in an accident not long before. Harley refuses to let the hospital hold him, and before long he has retreated into the Appalachian mountain wilderness above Agnes’s farm. More than anything, Harley wants peace in which to read his Bible and to meditate on the overlook called Joshua’s Knee at the edge of the high, long ridge in the territory behind Agnes’s house.
Jake finds Harley to be an enigma; he sees himself as Agnes’s protector and wants to make sure that Harley means her no harm. He is willing to accept Agnes’s word that Harley is a good man who means well; however, other members of Jake’s church—such as Sunday school teacher Orde Wingo—cannot see past Harley’s long hair, beard, and dilapidated clothing. Before long, Jake has other things on his mind besides Harley; his wife, Lori, tells him she is pregnant. It is not long before Jake realizes that Harley is what he seems to be: a man seeking to become closer to God.
Juxtaposed against Harley is millionaire Web Holcombe. The son of a well-to-do developer, Web has used his experiences in Vietnam to justify a take-no-prisoners approach to building his own empire. He has single-handedly made Sutter’s Cross a desirable golf resort. Married to a beautiful woman and wealthy beyond his dreams, Web sees himself as a man in control of his life, who needs no help from anyone—including the God in whom he does not believe.
Web is planning to build a country club and a series of developments, and he is courting wealthy foreign investors to come into Sutter’s Cross. However, a number of farms stand in the way; Web’s ruthlessness is revealed when he is willing to resort to hiring a henchman to blackmail one of the farmers. Yet, despite his ample resources, Web’s relationship with his twelve-year-old son, Eddie, is tenuous. Web misses Little League games to attend meetings and is never around when Eddie and his best friend Marcus go on adventures in the woods.
Eddie and Marcus have their own problems. Eddie is starting to like girls and Marcus has no faith in himself and cannot seem to get anything right—his baseball swing, or building a treehouse. Both of the boys are taunted by a bully and his cronies.
Web’s world comes crashing into Harley’s when Web realizes that his ability to enjoy his favorite sport of gliding in his sailplane will be greatly complicated with the closing of the closest airstrip to house sailplanes. Before long, Web has settled on a ridge of territory behind Agnes’s house—and owned by her. Web asks Agnes to sell him her land, and when she refuses, he tries to have both Harley and Jake intercede for him. Jake’s integrity is challenged when Web hires him to develop houses and Jake soon realizes that it is only because Web wishes to take advantage of Jake’s relationship with Agnes. Jake passes the test of his integrity even as he and Lori must endure twin tragedies: They have lost their baby and discovered that Lori has cancer.
When Web finally realizes that he cannot gain Agnes’s land through proper methods, he chooses others: He has the area rezoned so that she cannot pay her property taxes, and eventually he even hires an arsonist. Even as Web continues to bulldoze his way toward his own goals, others find their eyes being opened and their hearts touched by Harley. Harley is a man with a past filled with tragedy and sorrow who has found a measure of peace only through surrendering his will to God’s; in this surrender he has gained a strength and wisdom that helps the people he comes in contact with, such as Agnes and young Marcus.
Events eventually come to a head in Sutter’s Cross when the edge of a hurricane passes through the region and causes massive flooding of the river. Harley’s secrets have been revealed to the sheriff, and even as Jake searches the hills to save Harley, Orde Wingo and a group of armed vigilantes are combing the woods for him as well. The flooding places Web’s son Eddie into great danger, and it is only through miraculous acts of heroism by Harley and Jake that disaster is averted. Through the intervention of God in his life and Harley’s example, even Web Holcombe comes to see the error of his ways.
Christian Themes
Cramer uses Web’s sailplane as the perfect metaphor for his life. Flying in it gives him the illusion that he is in control, above everything else, master of his fate and of all he surveys. Through one nearly tragic flight, Web discovers that he is subject to the will of God and that his vain pride in his mastery of his environment will come up short in the end. In contrast, Cramer uses the accident that brings Harley to Sutter’s Cross to symbolize the path forward. Drunk and racing on mountain roads at night to flee a tragic past, Harley drives his motorcycle over a precipice and falls into the river. Falling through space, he has no control of his motorcycle or his body. Later, spending his time in the mountain recesses and on Joshua’s Knee, reading the Bible left behind by Agnes’s son, who died in Vietnam, Harley realizes that he has never had any control and for him to reach any fruition in his life, he must place it in God’s hands. The plunge into the river serves as a kind of baptism; afterward, he is reborn.
The novel is also about acceptance. Harley does not fit Orde Wingo’s vision of what a Christian should be. Therefore, despite Harley’s obvious eagerness to discuss the Bible and to become part of the church community, Orde makes it clear that he does not welcome Harley. In a few short meetings, Harley is able to help Marcus see the power of prayer and surrendering his will to God’s; Jake, too, learns about strength and faith in God from Harley. Even Web Holcombe is eventually touched to the core by Harley’s ultimate, Christ-like sacrifice; yet, Orde, devout churchgoer, is not a participant in the spiritual growth sparked by Harley’s appearance.
Sources for Further Study
Butler, Tamara. Review of Levi’s Will by W. Dale Cramer. Library Journal 130, no. 10 (June 1, 2005): 108. Review of the third book by Cramer mentions his tendency to create fallen heroes.
Crosby, Cindy. “Spiritual Misfits.” Review of Sutter’s Cross. Christianity Today 47, no. 3 (March, 2003): 79. A brief review that describes the spiritual challenges the novel’s characters must meet.
Mort, John. Review of Sutter’s Cross. Booklist 99, nos. 9/10 (January 1/15, 2003): 845. Review praises Cramer’s first novel.
Publishers Weekly. Review of Sutter’s Cross. 249, no. 51 (December 23, 2002): 46. Review that focuses primarily on the style of the novel and its place in the tradition of southern literature.
“W. Dale Cramer.” Contemporary Authors Online. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 2007. A short biography of Cramer that discusses Sutter’s Cross.