Friendship, Wisconsin, is the setting that author Stewart O'Nan uses for his novel, A PRAYER FOR THE DYING. The story revolves around the tough decisions that Jacob Hansen must make. In addition to his professional duties as constable, preacher, and mortician, his personal ethical struggles confront him on a daily basis.

O'Nan develops the story in a present tense, second person voice; that of Hansen. Once the reader adjusts to this unusual style, it becomes an easy task to follow the carefully constructed words of the writer. Because of the 'you' used to configure conversations within himself, the character of Hansen becomes immediate and tangible.  

A Civil War veteran, Hansen returns to Friendship and traverses the town on a bicycle, fulfilling the offices of three jobs. Horseback travel revolts him due to a bloody wartime experience. His past life as a soldier haunts him in experiences that unfold throughout the novel. O'Nan is a master of language when he reveals the innermost thoughts, conflicts, and emotions of the complex main character.

Upon a town farmer's discovery of a dead man, a traveler dressed in soldier's garb, Hansen's duties as mortician are called into service. Doc Guterson, the physician in Friendship, diagnoses the cause of death to be diphtheria. When another death occurs, then another, and the cause determined the same, Hansen and Doc declare a quarantine --- no one can enter or leave the town limits. Doc has foresight to send his wife away from Friendship prior to the quarantine, but Hansen keeps his wife and tiny daughter at home.

Hansen fights his own devils when the situation becomes desperate. Called upon to uphold the law, serve the sick and dead and to uplift spirits of the living, Hansen acts as harsh civil servant and gentle benefactor. Contrasting realities bear deep burdens on the man.

Because O'Nan delves into Hansen's soul in a forthright manner, A PRAYER FOR THE DYING is a chilling treatise on the ravages of diphtheria in the last century. Gruesome details of the disease and its effects on a small society reveal chilling pictures of life in America's near past.

The one man, as lawman, health department, and minister, chooses actions consistent with his personality. One calamitous happening follows another. Hansen witnesses death, love, religious fervor, and loyal conviction within his town. When he lacks material for a Sunday sermon, Hansen questions ideas of salvation, discipleship, and morality deep within himself.

The best and the worst elements of humanity are graphically displayed in O'Nan's writing. The author treats serious subjects as day-to-day dilemmas that Hansen must face and he artfully allows the reader to share the man's celebrations and tragedies. In fewer than 200 pages, this book reads with the depth and emotion of a much longer novel; strong words, used economically, make reading A PRAYER FOR THE DYING an excellent choice.