Back Roads

Harley Altmyer ought to be pursuing girls and sipping Rolling Stones at college. He deserves to be set free from his narrow-minded, hopeless mining town, which has no employment and no sense of humor. Rather, he is constantly reminded of how dysfunctional his life is.

Due to his father's abuse, Harley's mother was killed, leaving him an orphan with an adult's responsibilities and a teenager's intense, violent libido. At the early age of nineteen, he finds himself abandoned in the rural Pennsylvanian countryside, taking care of his three younger sisters, whose emotions towards him vary from intense attachment to outright hatred. And those Victoria's Secret catalogs won't work the same after he becomes fixated on the seductive, depressed mother of two who lives down the street. He feels like he could blow up because he wants Callie Mercer so much. What's left of his family, however, is destroyed by a sequence of shocking revelations that result from family secrets, falsehoods, and unsaid truths lighting a fuse. The iconic Harley was never able to predict that his charming sense of humor, his affection for his sisters, and his foolish heroism would wind up saving them all despite all of their trials.

Tawni O'Dell's flawless characters, both funny and poignant, masterfully convey the bewildering bewilderment of adolescence and the thorny nature of family with a blend of comedy and unwavering honesty. The captivating book Back Roads is written by a talented young author.

One day, you're that person who's proud of himself for making it through high school and receiving that coveted diploma, and you're considering applying for a job at Redi-Mix Concrete, where your dad has been employed since the dawn of time. If all of your family members are sisters, at least you have a family you can tolerate.