Flood Summer A Novel

In Trenton Lee Stewart’s debut novel, a young man holed up in a decrepit trailer in tiny Lockers Creek, Arkansas, considers himself a failure. Abe Pittenger has spent the last few years doing roof work, the last month enduring a ceaseless rain, and the last few days on a desolate trip to the Gulf, saying goodbye to his oldest friend. Abe has bad knees, flat tires, a dying cat, and no plans. When the rain becomes a brutal storm and a flood claims the countryside, he unexpectedly finds himself in haunted territory that will shadow him the rest of his life. Marie Hamilton, meanwhile, has arrived in the pouring rain, knocking on the door of a middle-class Hot Springs home--that of her father, whom she has not known since she was a child. Bringing all her possessions in the trunk of her car, leaving her troubled history on the road behind her, Marie has one goal: to begin her life anew. When Abe and Marie meet and fall into a tumultuous relationship, they are forced to rethink their respective pasts--uncovering and confronting secrets they would rather not disturb.