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David Rhodes's third novel, originally published by Harper & Row in 1975, is the story of July Montgomery, a boy who runs away from his hometown of Sharon Springs, Iowa, to Philadelphia, only to return years later with hopes of recapturing all that he lost.
In his seminal book On Becoming a Novelist (Harper & Row, 1983), John Gardner held Rock Island Line up as proof that Rhodes has "one of the best eyes in recent fiction." Milkweed Editions is publishing a new edition of the novel, along with Driftless, in September.