Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A suspenseful literary debut for fans of Dennis Lehane and Tom Franklin examining the aftershocks of survival--and the price of salvation.
In the blue-collar town of Chittenango, New York, birthplace of L. Frank Baum, two young boys are abducted from the annual Oz Fest and taken to a cabin in the woods. When they are next seen, ten-year-old Dean has escaped by swimming across Oneida Lake holding his brother's dead body. But when he returns, he and the world he knew have both changed irrevocably. In the years that follow, Dean, his family, and the town struggle to cope with the collateral damage of this unspeakable act of violence. From drug addiction to abandonment, it becomes clear that the reverberations of trauma are far-reaching--and the path to redemption is pockmarked, twisted, and often hidden from view.
In a sweeping narrative spanning decades and told from alternating points of view, Where the Sun Shines Out unites its characters around the themes of families, trauma, and the terrible things people do to each other when they're doing their best.
Synopsis
A raw, unflinching literary debut for fans of Dennis Lehane and Tom Franklin examining the aftershocks of survival?and the price of salvation. In the blue-collar town of Chittenango, New York, two young boys are abducted from a local festival and taken to a cabin in the woods. One is kept; one is killed. When they are next seen, ten-year-old Dean has escaped by swimming across Oneida Lake holding his brother's dead body.
As the years pass, the people of Chittenango struggle to cope with the collateral damage of this unspeakable act of violence, reverberations that disrupt the community and echo far beyond. With nothing holding it together, Dean's family disintegrates under the twin weights of guilt and grief?and the unspoken acknowledgment that the wrong child survived. At the center of it all, Dean himself must find a place in a future that never should have been his.
In a sweeping narrative spanning decades and told from alternating points of view, Where the Sun Shines Out tells the story of a town and the inevitable trauma we inflict upon each other when we?re trying our best. Exploring the bonds?and breakdowns?of families, Kevin Catalano's fearless debut reminds us that although the path to redemption is pockmarked, twisted, and often hidden from view, somehow the sun makes it through.