This youth novel for teenagers was named a Best Book of 2021 by the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews. The story revolves around Cash Pruitt and Delaney Doyle, who live by the Pigeon River in East Tennessee. Both have a parent addicted to opioids, and Cash’s papaw is dying of emphysema, but they are the smartest Appalachian teens in literature. As a result of Delaney’s scientific discovery, they are both recruited to attend a prestigious Connecticut prep school. "Heartfelt and deeply moving...a book that readers will unhesitatingly take to their hearts."—Booklist, starred review. “With profound, evocative prose and lyrical insights into the world surrounding a struggling main character, Zentner's powerful, emotional novel is one you won't soon forget.” —Buzzfeed. “A wise, gorgeous exploration of loss and survival that will make readers cry...Lyrical and heartbreaking.”—School Library Journal, starred review. "Zentner conjures a moving and rich novel about friendship, loss, kind strangers, the blindness so often present in the pursuit of love, and love itself. His protagonists have their eyes raised to the sky."—Daniel Woodrell. This is Zentner’s fourth youth novel, all of which have been award-winning. Before he turned to youth novels, Zentner worked as a musician in Nashville where he lives.
New York: Crown Books for Young Readers/Penguin Random House, 2021. 421 pages. Hardback in dust jacket.