From the award-winning author of The Serpent King comes a beautiful examination of grief, found family, and young love. Life in a small Appalachian town is not easy. Cash lost his mother to an opioid addiction and his Papaw is dying slowly from emphysema. Dodging drug dealers and watching out for his best friend, Delaney, is second nature. He’s been spending his summer mowing lawns while she works at Dairy Queen.

But when Delaney manages to secure both of them full rides to an elite prep school in Connecticut, Cash will have to grapple with his need to protect and love Delaney, and his love for the grandparents who saved him and the town he would have to leave behind.

Let’s begin with what this novel is not:high action, mystery, romance. It’s neither humorous nor violent. Nor is it uplifting (except tenuously at the end).

It’s slow, perceptive and often heart-wrenchingly sad as it dissects grief and longing. It’s more about bereavement than anything, although the authentic teen banter often provides comic relief.