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Driftless is set in Wisconsin and revisits George and Amy Terrill fifteen years into their marriage. Reflecting on the challenges they face when their marriage becomes mundane, while also examining the profound question of which is worse, having nothing or having everything, Driftless looks at the other side of wealth, power, and fame. It examines the consequences of technology and the power of special interest groups to control the status quo for their own financial gain, while addressing the issue of individual rights in time of personal need, and where the one thing all people have in common is the unknown amount of time they have.
 
As described by The Prairies Book Review, “Linde has delivered an intellectual treasure chest, cleverly disguised as historical fiction.”
 
Author Notes/Why You Should Read Driftless
 
“One day, I was in downtown Chicago and watched the hustle and bustle, and the pressure exuded from the faces of those scurrying to simply get ahead. On the train home, I took out a piece of paper and wrote the following poem.
 
Concrete canyons of corrugated cries! Contemplated whispers, contaminated lies! Perforated promises provide a steady pace of headless horsemen hunting for the perfect place…
 
Our life’s a walking shadow of men and men and men. Searching for that date that means the senseless, endless end! Of hopes and dreams and promises in blocks of embers gray, our meek, meek monster’s madness moves on its merry way… 
 
While the bounties of starvation are the victories of defeat! We wallow in a nation irreverent of those we meet.
 
We find today’s tomorrow is still another day, in a Freudian existence that keeps our minds at bay….
 
And so, our concrete canyons make us corrugated clowns. Who play life’s game of football and only marks the downs.
 
We’ve come to go asunder and leave upon the face, the madness of our blunders…our philosophic space… 
 
After releasing Little Spirit, many who read it asked, What happens next? My thoughts went back to the poem, as well as a profound set of conversations I once had with a retired priest who opened my eyes and my heart and made me feel more than ever before. In one of our discussions, he asked me what I was afraid of. Death? Lingering maladies? Poverty? Loss of love? Of all of these subjects, it was that last one. My ultimate fear was the loss of love, either through emotional distancing or the demise of someone I held dear. 
 
Father Ziggy, as he was called, then told me what he feared the most was none of the above. For him, it was for the future of humanity and America. He noted that at his age he’d lived through the social and political traumas of socialism and communism and felt the biggest threat to America and the world wasn’t political, but social and emotional–that it was materialism, when people never think they have enough, envying those who have more. 
 
I sat astounded by his answer as I personalized it and realized I too had fallen under the spell of the mantra bigger, better; bigger, better; more, more, more that equated possessions with happiness. At the same time, stories of mega-billionaires seemed constant fodder for national news, and I began studying what it was like to have so much money you could have anything you wanted whenever you wanted it—except more time—only to find out it wasn’t the ‘dream come true’ most people assumed it would be. With extreme wealth comes forms of limits including to one’s privacy and personal safety. And so I then asked myself, at what point do I stop wanting more except the freedom from the masses and myself?
 
I couldn’t find many common threads through all the lives of the uber-rich, but I did realize that virtually every mega-billionaire and all top ten grossing actors in America had either never been married or had divorced, of which several had done so multiple times. I then looked at lottery winners, other entertainers, and professional athletes and was shocked to learn that a majority of them also eventually go through a divorce, while many lottery winners also go through bankruptcy within a few years of winning the jackpot or retiring.  
 
I wondered, why did the sanctity of marriage and financial security evade these lives? With a little research, I found there are a number of reasons. First, many are not prepared to manage large sums of money or notoriety and make impulsive decisions about how to spend it or may not have the financial knowledge or discipline to make wise investments. Second, they often become targets for scammers and other people who want to take advantage of their newfound wealth and may be pressured into making bad investments or giving away large sums of money to family, friends, or charities. Third, the sudden influx of money can change the dynamics of their personal relationships where family members and friends may expect handouts or become envious of their newfound wealth, which can lead to conflict and strained relationships. Finally, many simply don’t know how to make their newfound wealth last and continue to live beyond their means. The question then becomes, which is worse to have everything or nothing? When you have everything, you have nothing to strive for. When you have nothing, you probably won’t have the opportunities to get ahead. Somewhere, someway, somehow, there needs to be a balance where what you have is enough. The challenge is not only getting but remaining there.
 
While I examined those who found what I would call ‘instant wealth,’ I wanted to know what happens to those who sacrifice everything simply to get ahead and realized there is a common thread to almost all the get-rich stories and that is time. The time it takes to make it to the top and what alternatives one trades for the time needed to get there. The question then becomes, how do you allocate time to ensure you sincerely feel wanted, needed, and loved? I began to think about the optimal balance of having enough money to be secure with having enough time to share it with those you love. And that’s what Driftless is all about: When is enough, enough? and How do you combat those who are willing to take it all away from you simply because they want more and are willing to take it all away from you?

Having communicated over one million words across eight books, I believe Driftless is the best written of them all. I hope someday that students of creative writing use it as a reference of my writing style and the thoughts I have shared.”