MOST RECENT WORK

"a dramatic exploration of trauma, redemption, and the complexities of human relationships set against a backdrop of poignant and often harrowing experiences"    ★★★★★ 

                                                                                           Literary Titan

What Not to Forgive is the novel I’ve been awaiting eagerly since Loring Walawander’s Montana Epiphany: One Man’s Journey to Wisdom. 

With Montana in his heart in this book as well, 

What Not to Forgive delivers on that memoir’s promise. It, too, is disarmingly honest and by being so becomes the moving, engaging and relevant story it is. It is a portrait of ordinary people, yes, and yet Walawander’s characters are, unlike many, trying to do the best they can.

 They are, as William Faulkner put it in his famous Nobel Prize acceptance speech, characters that will, because the human spirit is real and needs our celebration, ‘not merely endure, but prevail.

"What Not to Forgive is a wonderful book.”

 BRUCE MCALLISTER, author of Dream Baby and The Village Sang to the Sea

M O N TA N A  I S N ’ T  J U S T  A  P L A C E . 

It’s a state of mind and of the heart, and it can help you see the journeys you need to take to find what you need to find, and to become what you need to become. What Not to Forgive is a story of ordinary yet extraordinary human beings trying to do the right thing,

finding it far from easy, and yet not giving up. After all, forgiveness is a complicated thing.

Praise for What Not to Forgive. 

Characters of different means and backgrounds each carry their personal burden: a leg lost in war, an unjust sentence served, a life wasted by drinking, a child withheld and a spouse dying alone. They each come to terms with help from unexpected sources as they make their own life journeys through Montana, Switzerland and upstate New York. Loring Walawander brings new twists to unravel throughout the emotion packed novel What Not to Forgive. 

James Strauss, Montana Newspaper Association

What Not to Forgive is a war story, cowboy story and love story all in one. Readers will recognize in its engaging characters people they know . . . and even themselves. It’s a very good read. 

Stan Cohen, Montana publisher, author and historian

• Literary Titan Gold Seal Five Star Award   
• Readers' Favorite Five Star Review
• NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite

In the heart of Pennsylvania’s steel and coal country, most young men in the 1960’s followed the generations before them into the mills and mines—but Loring Walawander was 

di­fferent. He dreamt of Montana with its open spaces, soaring mountains, and crystal clear waters. 

That dream grew as he dealt with the tics and twitches of undiagnosed Tourette syndrome. It spurred his tentative first steps out of the nest to college in Tennessee. It was an anchor as he came of age in a turbulent era, witnessing firsthand the conflict surrounding the Vietnam War and racism in the South. And it sustained him through the heartbreaking loss of his first love and his own struggle to survive a near-fatal illness. 

Even after he landed a job in Wisdom, Montana, Loring had to learn how to keep his dream alive. The unexpected reality of harsh winters, sporadic work, and a tumultuous relationship challenged his commitment. Over time, and through the most difficult lessons life had to teach him, Loring found the way to live his Montana Dream.

What people are saying about Montana Epiphany:

“By his twenties, Loring Walawander had endured more than most people will in a lifetime—undiagnosed Tourette’s Syndrome, unrelated heart ailments that killed his first love and nearly killed him, a failed marriage, intermittent poverty. Yet hope and optimism, sustained by a childhood wish that this Pittsburgh boy would someday make a life in Montana, shine through on every page. For anyone who’s ever dreamed the impossible, Montana Epiphany tells you that you can achieve it, and that it’s worth the effort.”

Gwen Florio, author of Silent Hearts                                                   and the Lola Wicks crime series

“In April of 1966 there was a story in Boys Life magazine about Boy Scout Troop 7 from Missoula hiking the Bob Marshall Wilderness. This story inspired Loring to move to Montana.

I was hired to be the guide and pack the troops gear into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Loring, a scout, read this story and it made him set his life’s compass to Montana and its adventures. Montana gave Loring many challenges, and yet many successes along the way. The mountains and forests have lured many people to Montana. Some come for the challenges and succeed, while others fail. I am happy to be an inspiration for Loring’s life story.”

Arnold “Smoke” Elser, legendary  

Montana horseman and wilderness outfitter.

Loring Walawander has lived in Montana since 1976, when he discovered how the state touched his soul as he dreamed it would as a young boy. He writes about characters who’ve been touched the same way. 

His extensive travels to new places helped him learn how other people live and discover what is good about the world and humanity. He holds a degree in Forestry from the University of Tennessee and has worked as a cowboy, logger, carpenter, forester, and postmaster.

 Now retired, he no longer looks for the next mountain to climb or wild river to raft. He now writes, using the Montana landscape as his canvas. In his heart, he will always be a forester and currently spends most days maintaining the trees, shrubs, and grasses around his Missoula property.

If not writing, he can be found driving with his wife, Jacque, on the back roads of Montana.