From an assured new voice in American fiction, a magnificent and moving first novel about a boy coming of age in the American heartlandAugust is an average twelve year old - he likes dogs and fishing, and doesn't even mind early morning chores on his family's farm. When his parents' marriage falls apart and he has to start over in a new town, he tries hard to be an average teen - playing football and doing his homework - but he struggles to form friendships, and when a shocking act of violence pushes him off course once more, he flees to rural Montana. There, as he throws himself into work on a ranch, he comes to learn that even the smallest of communities have secrets and even the most broken of families have a bond.Beautifully written and unfolding against an epic American landscape, August is a compelling, authentic and poignant story of the joys and traumas that irrevocably shape us all.'Quietly brilliant'- the Daily Mail'In this tightly controlled yet highly unpredictable novel we discover what it is like to come of age in a part of America that is always changing, always the same'- the Guardian