Life, and Death, and Giants

The story is set in the small, isolated town of Lakota, Wisconsin. Dr. Thomas Kennedy, a veterinarian, moved there from Milwaukee to escape the notoriety surrounding his wife Angela’s death, which was ruled a suicide after an investigation into his involvement. Two years later, a seventeen-year-old boy named Jasper Fisher arrives at Thomas’s home in distress. In the back of his pickup truck is his mother, Rachel Fisher, unconscious and severely swollen from a prolonged labor. Jasper refuses to let Thomas call an ambulance, citing his mother’s religious beliefs. Thomas, a large-animal vet, examines Rachel and realizes she is carrying a single, impossibly large baby. He decides he must intervene. Using a lambing snare, he delivers an eighteen-pound, twenty-seven-inch-long baby boy. The infant nurses from his mother’s breast just before Rachel dies. This child, Gabriel Fisher, is destined for a legendary life.

The narrative shifts to Rachel’s mother, Hannah Fisher, an Amish woman. She reflects on her life, including the difficult birth of her first son, Caleb, who died as an infant, and the easy birth of Rachel. Her husband, Josiah, became sterile after a case of mumps, making Rachel their only child. Hannah recalls her strict and volatile father, Absalom Yoder, who once sheared off her sister Meg’s hair as punishment for vanity. After her own mother’s death, Hannah secretly reads a hidden book of Emily Dickinson’s poems. The perspective then moves to Billy Walton, the local tavern owner, who was a childhood friend of Josiah. Billy recounts seeing Rachel in his bar once during her Rumspringa, a period of freedom for Amish youth. He later learned she became pregnant, was excommunicated (*streng meidung*, a severe form of shunning), and was taken in by a local widow, Charlotte Chesterfield, who eventually willed her farm to Rachel.

Hannah recounts her pain when Rachel became pregnant with her first son, Jasper, and was shunned for not naming the father. Hannah and Josiah are forbidden from contact, but Hannah secretly watches her daughter from across the river. Josiah eventually allows her to have clandestine meetings with Rachel and Jasper. Years later, Rachel becomes pregnant again, this time with Gabriel. The pregnancy is difficult, and Rachel dies during childbirth. Hannah attends the small English funeral, where she sees Billy and Thomas. Thomas then becomes a regular presence in the lives of Jasper and Gabriel. He notes Gabriel’s astonishingly rapid growth, and by age five, the boy has a profound, calming effect on animals. Billy Walton signs Gabriel, now five-foot-six, up for his T-ball team, where the boy’s size and power are immediately apparent. Hannah secretly attends one of Gabriel’s games. At age six, Gabriel meets his grandmother for the first time when Thomas is called to the Fisher farm for a sick goat. Gabriel embraces her, beginning their relationship.

At age seven, Gabriel’s immense power in baseball leads to another player being seriously injured, and he is moved up to an older league, where he continues to dominate. Meanwhile, Jasper struggles financially, begins drinking heavily, and takes a job at his grandfather Absalom’s sawmill. Absalom cruelly taunts him, calling him “Rachel’s Bastard.” One night, nine-year-old Gabriel, now six-foot-four, returns home with Thomas to find that Jasper has hanged himself in the barn. Gabriel goes to live with his grandparents, Hannah and Josiah. He adapts to Amish life, but his size and strength become legendary. Josiah grows concerned about Gabriel’s pride and his continued contact with the English world through Thomas. They compromise by having Thomas for monthly dinners instead of taking Gabriel on calls. At seventeen, Gabriel is over eight feet tall and is recruited by the local high school football coach, Trey Beathard.

Coach Beathard, a former star college coach whose career was derailed by addiction, has been rebuilding the local team. He recognizes Gabriel’s unprecedented athletic potential and convinces him to play. Gabriel’s presence transforms the team into an unstoppable force. His fame brings a flood of media and college recruiters to Lakota, disrupting the Fishers’ quiet life. The team wins the state championship, and Gabriel accepts a full scholarship to the University of Wisconsin. In college, he continues to dominate on the field and falls in love with a fellow student, Isabella “Bella” Alvarez. In his sophomore season, Gabriel is a Heisman Trophy favorite until he suffers a catastrophic knee injury during a game. A torn artery necessitates the amputation of his right leg above the knee to save his life.

Gabriel returns home to Hannah and Josiah, now covered in tattoos that horrify Hannah, and struggling to readjust to the non-electric Amish world. His distress and the lack of modern amenities lead Hannah to ask Thomas to take him in. Gabriel moves into Thomas’s house but grows restless, feeling his strength is being wasted. He accepts a lucrative offer to become a professional wrestler, training in London. Heartbroken, Hannah gives him an embroidered dish towel as a parting gift. Gabriel becomes an international superstar as “Anakim, the Amish Giant,” his persona a caricature of his Amish roots. Thomas invites Hannah to Gabriel’s American debut in Chicago. On the way, they visit Thomas’s mother in her nursing home and go to the Art Institute, where their emotional bond deepens. At the match, Hannah is horrified by the spectacle, especially the mock-Amish costumes worn by fans and Gabriel’s use of his prosthesis as a weapon. She insists they leave.

On the drive home, Thomas comforts a distraught Hannah by telling her the full story of his wife’s death, revealing Angela deliberately lay under his truck. When Hannah arrives home, she finds her father’s house engulfed in flames. Absalom’s body is found inside, and his death is ruled an accident. However, Hannah finds a letter from him confessing that he raped Rachel, fathering Jasper. He writes that he is taking his own life by fire as atonement and calls Gabriel “a monster born of my monstrousness,” leaving his paternity a dark implication. Hannah’s sister Meg confirms their father abused her as well. Devastated and enraged, Hannah confronts Josiah, who remains silent when she asks if he knew of Absalom’s depravity. Feeling betrayed by everyone, Hannah leaves Josiah and moves in with Thomas. She sinks into a deep depression but slowly recovers by reading the books from Thomas’s mother’s library. Their friendship blossoms into a loving, intimate relationship. Sometime later, Gabriel calls from Spain. He has gone blind. Doctors have found a large, inoperable brain tumor; he is coming home to die.

Gabriel moves into Thomas’s house, where Hannah cares for him. The media descends on Lakota, prompting Billy Walton and other locals to form a blockade to protect Gabriel’s privacy. As Gabriel’s condition worsens, a group of Amish women, organized by Hannah’s friend Abiah, arrives to provide constant, round-the-clock care. Bella Alvarez appears at the door with her and Gabriel’s two-year-old son, Raphael, bringing Gabriel a final period of joy. On the morning of his death, a miracle occurs. Thousands of animals, birds, and insects gather outside the house. As they roll Gabriel’s bed onto the patio, a massive swarm of fireflies envelops him in a blinding light, and his soul departs as they ascend.

After a large funeral attended by both Amish and English friends, Gabriel is buried next to his mother and brother. Hannah, knowing she must help raise her great-grandson, makes the difficult decision to return to Josiah. She and Thomas share a tearful, loving goodbye. Heartbroken but resolute, Thomas sells his house to Bella and leaves Lakota, driving west toward a new life in Montana, feeling as though his own life is just beginning.