First published 2026
Ireland, the 1960s. A father stands before his eleven sons after a sudden tragedy and divides their futures in two: the older boys will leave, the younger ones will stay. Macdara, the second eldest, lands on a cattle ranch in Montana and builds a life there. His younger brother Rian pesters him to come along, and Mac makes him a promise: get old enough, and there will be a place for you in America. Mac means it. Then the phone rings and Rian is gone, no explanation, no trace. The years pile up. Mac grows older. His brothers scatter further, some to New York, some staying rooted in Ireland. Children arrive, families take shape. But Rian's absence sits at the center of all of it, a question nobody can fully put down. Mary Beth Keane draws on her own family history to follow these brothers across decades and continents, showing how a single moment of loss sends lives in directions no one chose. The emotional core is brotherhood: the promises made between boys, and what it costs a man to keep searching for one who may not want to be found.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, adult-fiction, family-drama
Vibes: contemplative, introspective, melancholic, multigenerational, poignant
Tropes: family-secrets, found-family, generational-trauma, long-lost-sibling
Setting: Ireland, Montana, New York, America
Period: 1960s
352 pages · Hardcover · Scribner
Content warnings: death