First published 2007
Michael Perry comes back to New Auburn, Wisconsin after ten years away. The town has 485 people, one gas station, and plenty of characters. The volunteer fire department's senior member is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives who both work at that gas station. The local vigilante happens to be a farmer's wife who carries a pistol and a Bible. Perry's hands have gone soft from years of writing. He can't polka or fix his own truck. He figures joining the volunteer fire department might help him fit in again. Between responding to fires and car wrecks, navigating bar fights and community fish feeds, Perry rediscovers what it means to belong somewhere. This comic and sometimes painful story captures an overlooked corner of America through the eyes of someone trying to come home again.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, humor, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: New Auburn, Wisconsin
Period: 21st-century
234 pages · Paperback · Harper Perennial