The "lost country" of the title is the familiar country of innocence and security known as youth—-a country we have all known and which, occasionally, in a book like this one, we are able to rediscover.

The Lost Country is the story of a boy, Jim Blackstarr, who grows up on a farm in Virginia. As a child, he delights in the beauty that surrounds him: the rivers and hills and trees, the seasons of the year, all the shapes and textures and patterns of his world.

But as he grows older, he makes other discoveries. He experiences brutality, passion, fear, shame. These experiences destroy the simplicity of his early relationships; they complicate and darken his later ones. Ultimately, the drive him—-as they drive all men—-out of, and away from, the country of his youth.