Back Roads

Tawni O’Dell’s debut is narrated by Harley Altmyer, a nineteen-year-old in rural Pennsylvania forced to drop his own future and raise his three younger sisters after their mother is imprisoned for shooting their abusive father. Working dead-end jobs and boiling with anger, Harley is drawn into a reckless affair and toward the buried truth of his family. The novel is raw, tense, and darkly compelling.