Synopses & Reviews
In Trenton Lee Stewarts debut novel, a young man holed up in a decrepit trailer in tiny Lockers Creek, Arkansas, considers himself a failure. Abe Pittenger has spent the last few years doing roof work, the last month enduring a ceaseless rain, and the last few days on a desolate trip to the Gulf, saying goodbye to his oldest friend. Abe has bad knees, flat tires, a dying cat, and no plans. When the rain becomes a brutal storm and a flood claims the countryside, he unexpectedly finds himself in haunted territory that will shadow him the rest of his life.
Marie Hamilton, meanwhile, has arrived in the pouring rain, knocking on the door of a middle-class Hot Springs homethat of her father, whom she has not known since she was a child. Bringing all her possessions in the trunk of her car, leaving her troubled history on the road behind her, Marie has one goal: to begin her life anew.
When Abe and Marie meet and fall into a tumultuous relationship, they are forced to rethink their respective pastsuncovering and confronting secrets they would rather not disturb.
About the Author
A native of Hot Springs, Arkansas, Trenton Lee Stewart has worked as a residential counselor in a youth home for troubled girls, a residence assistant for men with mental disabilities, a lost and found clerk, a rural roustabout video deliveryman, a reference assistant in the art and music department of a public library, and a professor of writing and literature. He has had stories in many literary venues, including The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, The Virginia Quarterly Review, New England Review, and The Chattahoochee Review. He is the author of a forthcoming childrens novel, The Mysterious Benedict Society (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers). He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife and two sons.
Kids Q&A
Read the Kids' Q&A with Trenton Lee Stewart