Caboose

Caboose, Alaska is the small hometown of Kache Winkel where most of the story takes place. It used to be called Herring Town because of the booming fishing industry. It is in central Southern Alaska, near Kachemak Bay. When the herring dried up, the train stopped serving the area, and a caboose was dumped there at the end of the line, hence the new name. The caboose serves as a museum devoted to the town's history. A.R and Lettie Winkel settled in Caboose when it was still Herring Town and established their homestead. Lettie loved Alaska since the moment she first laid eyes on it, in a photograph, until she died, peacefully, on the homestead at the end of the novel. When the story begins, Kache, who was named after the Bay, has not returned to his hometown for 20 years, though his remaining family all live in...