Windfall: A Novel

In his twenties and thirties, Ben never thought about money--more or less what you'd expect  from a scholar whose specialty was the transcendentalists.  But now, in his forties, trying to raise two children on a  thirty-thousand-dollar-a-year salary, it's all he thinks about.

Money is a problem for Ben Lindberg.  As a college professor, he's fought long and hard to keep his intellectual life--and his family life--safe and secure.  But he can't afford to replace his broken-down car, can't even afford to fix it, can't even afford to move his family into a better part of Austin.

Then, one night, things change.  Searching for the stray family cat, Ben finds in the basement of an abandoned feed store eight coolers filled with fifty-dollar bills.  A windfall.

He knew he should leave, but he couldn't.  It was the most extraordinary moment of his life and he wanted to savor it.

Ben takes the money, hides it and doesn't tell his wife.  For a time, their lives improve.  They move into a wonderful new house and buy a second car.  Ben becomes a hero to his family.  But when someone comes looking for the coolers, Ben discovers that everything comes at a cost--in this case, a cost beyond anything he could have imagined.

Windfall is the story of an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances.  Tautly plotted, intelligently written, and shot through with searing psychological insight, it is a novel of paranoia and betrayal, secrets and shattered ideals--a relentlessly suspenseful thriller.

James Magnuson was born in 1941 and grew up in a series of small towns in Wisconsin and North Dakota.  After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, he made a living as a playwright in New York City, directing street theater in Harlem and producing his own plays in some of the most obscure theaters in the city.  In 1970, Magnuson was awarded a Hodder Fellowship and for the next four years, he wrote and directed eight new plays at Princeton University.  At age thirty two, Magnuson published his debut novel, Without Barbarians.  After publishing four more novels (The Rundown, Orphan Train, Open Season, and Money Mountain), receiving an NEA grant for fiction, and even having a few of his books optioned to the movies, Magnuson found himself with his back against the wall - broke, with a wife and two small children to support.

In 1985 the family settled in Austin where he took a job teaching in the English department at the University of Texas; his novel Ghost Dancing was published in 1989.  "Those first difficult years in Austin served as the basis for Windfall - the sense of having failed to support one's family adequately, of being middle-aged, of there being no way out."  Magnuson adds, "My fortunes, like those of the main character in Windfall, changed dramatically when, in 1991, I went to Los Angeles to write for television.  I wrote for shows like 'Knot's Landing,' 'Class of '96,' and 'Sweet Justice.'  It wasn't quite like finding seven coolers filled with fifty dollar bills under a feed store, but it was close."

Tiring of the California lifestyle, the Magnusons returned to Texas.  James Michener had just given the University eighteen million dollars to begin a graduate writing program and two years later Jim became the director of The Texas Center for Writers.  Currently, he spends his days at the University, writing and teaching.   "My job is a terrific one," Magnuson says.  "I spend my days supporting and encouraging talented young writers.