In the blazing hot summer of 1994, there’s nothing for Cora Mowat to do but hang around in empty parking lots. Stuck in her mom’s small house and tired of her own restless mind, she’s desperate to break free of the limits of Fife but unsure of what the future holds in this powerful literary novel—if it holds anything at all for a girl like her trying to find her way in the world.

After her mother invites a new man to live with them, tensions quickly rise in the cramped house. Gunner is kind but strange—a one-eyed shoplifter with more than a few hidden secrets. But when tragedy strikes shortly after, Cora rebels against her small-town existence in search of love, acceptance, and a path to something good.

If only she can learn to navigate her grief and everything she thinks she knows about who she is and what she might be capable of, she may finally find the way forward.