Gerry Harlan Brown has lived most of his life in the Bowling Green, Kentucky area. Stints at a factory, a farm, and painting houses have been mixed in with periods as a railroader, a volunteer community crisis counselor, and a professional fire chief. His experiences during twenty-nine years as a firefighter continue to influence his writing, for in that role he met people from all walks of life during their most trying days. Some individuals were at their best and bravest. Others were at their most devastated or petty. Every reaction he witnessed helped provide ideas for stories and characters. Gerry works from his home in Smiths Grove, Kentucky--the small town where he grew up—frequently wandering the streets and nearby country roads as he works on the latest idea demanding to be explored on paper.
![Book cover - Canelands by Gerry Harlan Brown](/sites/default/files/2024-07/gerryharlanbrown.jpg)
Canelands
The sight of a small Guatemalan girl--hysterical because she’s been separated from her mother at the border--triggers a trial of faith for a Kentucky country preacher. Then he receives a call from God to walk the nearly 1,300 miles to Brownsville, Texas and pray for the children of the world. His journey of love, loss, and compassion sparks a great reawakening of the moral responsibility owed to all children.