logo

62 pages 2 hours read

Damnation Spring

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

July 30-August 30Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Summer 1977

July 30 Summary

The novel is broken down into seasons, days, and narrative points of view. Although Davidson sometimes deploys multiple narrators per day, this guide will break the plot down into sections that cover one day.

In this opening chapter, 53-year-old Rich Gundersen visits his mentor Lark. Lark is a long-retired logger who spends his days carving sasquatch figurines for tourists and charging them to use a toilet on his property. In his working days, he was a firm friend to Rich’s dead father, Hank, also a logger. Lark has taken it upon himself to look after Rich in lieu of his late friend. He introduces Rich to another local old boy, Jim Mueller, who is selling a famous piece of land nearby: a 720-acre ridge named after the ancient Redwood topping it, the so-called “24-7” tree, for its twenty-four-foot-seven-inch width. Out of respect for Rich’s father, who dreamed of buying the land and harvesting the fabled tree with Rich, Mueller says Rich can have the land for $250,000. The sum is still fortune to Rich, but the harvested timber could be worth four times that. As Mueller explains to Rich, however, his ability to harvest it will come down to whether local logging company Sanderson puts in roads to some of its few remaining old-growth trees on the neighboring land, known as Damnation Grove.

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
Unlock IconUnlock all 62 pages of this Study Guide

Plus, gain access to 8,650+ more expert-written Study Guides.

Including features:

+ Mobile App
+ Printable PDF
+ Literary AI Tools