by Jeff Zentner
First published 2021
Cash lives in a small Tennessee town where loss is ordinary. His mother died from opioid addiction. His grandfather, the man who raised him, is getting sicker. Cash holds onto two things: the beauty he finds in broken places, and Delaney, his best friend, who is sharper and more restless than their town can hold. When Delaney finds a way out, she brings Cash with her. Leaving means trading everything familiar for something unknown. Cash carries his grief with him. He carries his loyalty to his grandfather. He carries the quiet fear that he does not belong anywhere new. Jeff Zentner, who wrote The Serpent King, builds this story from the ground up, through friendship and illness and the particular ache of being loved by someone who sees more in you than you see in yourself. The central question is not whether Cash can survive the hard life he is leaving. It is whether he can survive becoming someone different. Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal, this is a story about grief, chosen family, and two young people figuring out what they owe each other and themselves.
Genres: literary-fiction, coming-of-age, contemporary, young-adult, realistic-fiction, family-drama
Vibes: bittersweet, emotional, intimate, introspective, lyrical, poignant
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family, friends-to-lovers, personal-growth
Setting: Tennessee, small town
Period: contemporary
425 pages · Paperback · Andersen Press
Content warnings: addiction, death, mental-illness