Juliana Frink and Hawthorne Abendsen

Juliana Frink and Hawthorne Abendsen meet as reader and author, but their relationship quickly transcends the ordinary boundaries of that connection. Juliana, a judo instructor living in Canon City, Colorado, has read Abendsen's novel The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, a banned alternate-history book in which the Axis powers lose World War II. Her devotion to the book is so profound that she drives hundreds of miles to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to meet the man who wrote it, only to discover that her journey is intertwined with a plot to kill him. Their encounter becomes a confrontation not just between a fan and her idol, but between a woman who has risked everything to deliver a warning and an author who has hidden the true nature of his work even from himself.

The Reader's Journey

Juliana's path to Abendsen begins long before she reaches his door. She first encounters The Grasshopper Lies Heavy through Joe Cinnadella, a man she meets at a hamburger stand in Canon City and who becomes her lover. Joe carries a worn, grease-stained copy of the book, which he reads obsessively, and it is through him that Juliana first learns of Abendsen's alternate world. As they drive toward Denver, Joe reveals his plan to visit the author, and Juliana, captivated by the book, eagerly agrees. She buys a new, clean copy at a hotel bookstore in Denver, intending to have it autographed. But the trip takes a dark turn when Joe, who is revealed to be an SD assassin sent to kill Abendsen, tries to force Juliana to accompany him to Cheyenne. In a desperate struggle, she slashes his throat with a razor blade and flees, leaving him bleeding in their hotel room. The oracle, which she consults in her car, tells her to go to Cheyenne and warn Abendsen, and she drives through the night, stopping only in Greeley, where she calls the Abendsen residence and speaks to Caroline Abendsen, reading her the hexagram lines that predict danger.

The Meeting at the High Castle

The Abendsen house in Cheyenne is not the fortress described on the book jacket. It is a single-story stucco home with climbing roses, a child's tricycle in the driveway, and a party in progress. Juliana, wearing the blue Italian dress she bought in Denver, is greeted by Caroline Abendsen, who recognizes the dress as a House of Cherubini original. Hawthorne Abendsen is a tall man with black curly hair and dark, soft eyes, wearing a hand-tailored suit. When Juliana tells him she drove all the way from Canon City to talk about Grasshopper, he smiles and jokes about his phobia of elevators, but the mood shifts when she asks him directly how he knew about the other world he wrote about. She presses him, refusing to accept his evasions, and finally asks the question that has been building in her mind: "The oracle wrote your book. Didn't it?"

The Oracle's Role

Abendsen's initial response is to deny it, saying the oracle was "sound asleep" during the writing. But Caroline intervenes, telling Juliana the truth: Hawthorne made thousands of choices through the I Ching, asking the oracle about the historic period, the subject, the characters, and the plot. It took years, and the oracle even predicted the book would be a great success. Juliana, who has used the I Ching herself for years, understands immediately. She asks why the oracle would write a novel, and why one about the Germans and Japanese losing the war. When she insists on asking the oracle directly, Abendsen brings out his copy of the book, and she throws the coins. The hexagram is Chung Fu, Inner Truth, and Juliana declares that it means the book is true. Abendsen, angered, asks if it means Germany and Japan lost the war, and she says yes. He closes the volumes and says nothing, and Juliana realizes that even the author himself does not face the truth of his own creation.

The Truth Revealed

Juliana's revelation is not just about the book's content but about its method. She understands that the oracle wrote the book, and that this is why it contains a truth that Abendsen himself cannot accept. When she tells him to believe, he shakes his head no. She leaves, but not before Abendsen calls her a "dathnon," a little chthonic spirit that roams the earth expressing its being. He thanks her for what she did in Denver, and she urges him to carry a weapon, but he refuses, saying he has decided not to let it bother him. Caroline Abendsen is upset by the disruption, but Hawthorne is grateful, telling Juliana that she has shown them all something important. As she walks away from the house, Juliana reflects that the truth is as terrible as death but harder to find, and she is lucky to have found it.

The Relationship's Significance

The relationship between Juliana and Abendsen is defined by a mutual recognition of the oracle's power. Juliana, who has used the I Ching to make decisions throughout her life, is uniquely positioned to understand how the book was written. Her journey to Cheyenne is not just a fan's pilgrimage but a mission to deliver a warning and to confront the author with the truth of his own work. Abendsen, for his part, recognizes in Juliana a kindred spirit, someone who has the "unnatural mind" to see what others cannot. Their encounter is brief but transformative, leaving both of them changed. Juliana leaves with a sense of purpose, planning to return to her former husband Frank, while Abendsen is left to ponder the revelation that his book, written through the oracle, is true. The relationship underscores the novel's central theme: that the I Ching is not just a tool for divination but a living force that shapes reality, and that those who consult it are connected to a deeper truth that transcends the world of the novel itself.