The Pedestrian Ethic

By James M. Hawk

Henry D. Thoreau wrote, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation." In 2022, Wendell O. Higbee, a Seattle skyscraper lawyer, was determined not to be that guy . But a stubborn pandemic, work routines, self-imposed life rituals, and a depressing city were beginning to suck some of the pleasures of life from the privileged and immensely talented millennial. Then some things happened that were beyond his control. Wendell is a fictional character, living alone by the tenets of an ethic that he uniquely created. A somewhat cynical and relentlessly witty working lawyer, the novel's leading man emerges from Seattle's disastrous 2020 a changed man. In the beginning, Wendell celebrates his thirty-eighth birthday alone in a restaurant booth, reminiscing over his favorite Cantonese dish at China First. He knew there was a bigger world beyond the one he had created as an associate at the prestigious Seattle law firm Bond, Carmichael & Clark. Mostly content, Wendell lived the relatively comfortable life of a pensive, well-read, piano-dependent bachelor in a West Coast city. There are parts of his youth and his high school experience that he could not grow out of. And he knew that his mother may have been allowed to have too much influence in his life. Then, with an unexpected death or two in the family, and with the simultaneous acquisition of unexpected wealth, Wendell finds his carefully constructed life disrupted. He finds himself on the move, trying to help his family while trying at the same time to discard some of his pedestrian ways. With a bequeathed Heart of Gold, Wendell pursues earthly pleasures even as he begins to search for his life's larger purpose. Venture out with Wendell as he leaves behind his work and his Steinway and his old ways to travel to Southern Italy to do good...and maybe to fall in love.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0D89WCGX5
• ISBN13: 9798375956251
• Release Date: June 2024
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 423 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 5.5"