First published 2025
Edie enters the world quietly while chaos erupts around her. Her father drinks heavily and beats her mother regularly. The violence fills their home, yet Edie never cries as a baby, unsettling the adults who wonder why she stays so calm. Despite the brutality at home, Edie still experiences childhood joys. She has sleepovers filled with laughter and runs wild with the neighborhood children on outdoor adventures. The rural landscape offers freedom with its soft winds, tall grass, and summer rainstorms. But as Edie grows older, her father's anger intensifies with his drinking. His cruelty hardens her heart. She watches how quickly life can end, snuffed out carelessly like a cigarette dropped in dirt. The cycle of abuse threatens to continue. Edie must choose whether she will repeat the patterns that shaped her childhood or break free to reclaim the joy she felt running through those fields as a young girl.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, adult-fiction, psychological-thriller, realistic-fiction, family-drama
Vibes: dark, emotionally-raw, haunting, intimate, introspective, thought-provoking
Tropes: breaking-cycles, coming-of-age, found-joy, internal-strength
Setting: rural-landscape
580 pages · Paperback · Drawn and Quarterly
Content warnings: alcohol-abuse, child-abuse, domestic-violence, physical-abuse