Herculean

For years I’ve toiled,
I’ve worked the earth.
Well, I’ve worked on the earth,
pushing a mower over
a puny patch of grass.

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Callie and Jesse

I wake up and her face is right up against mine, not touching but real close. I had that dream again, she says. The one with your mama. I roll away and squint in the dark for the time. 4:12. Yeah? I say. She wants more, but my head is thick. Can you tell me…

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Meredith and Annie

An excerpt from early in the novel featuring Meredith and her party friend Annie, and the first hint of complication.

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Lee

In this early scene from the novel, we meet Meredith’s dad and Gordie’s grandfather, working alone in his shop, distracted by the thoughts stirred within him by the onset of fall.

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Meredith and Sharla

An unusually cold day in early autumn compounds Meredith’s misery, as she faces one of the more malevolent characters in the novel.

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