From the author of Sweetgirl, an atmospheric, haunting novel about a family of bootleggers, their troubled history, and the land that binds them.
The Sawbrooks have lived on prime real estate on the lakes of Michigan since before there was prime real estate. A family of smugglers and bootleggers, every man, woman, and child in each generation has been taught to navigate the nooks and crannies of the rivers and highways that flow in and out of Canada. The hidden routes are the family's legacy. But today, the Sawbrooks are deeply fractured, and the money that's sustained the family is running out.
Edward, the Sawbrook patriarch, is dying from cancer, and his wife, Rhoda, is bitterly disappointed in her three adult children. The eldest daughter, Lucy, is now a park ranger, working to federally protect the land against her mother’s will; the middle son, Buckner, hasn’t been the same since he came back from the army suffering from alcoholism; and the youngest daughter, Jewell, is wasting her potential as a card player and bartender.
When Jewell is asked to commit a crime for a major insurance payout, she agrees, eager for the cash, but too late, she realizes that that the boat she torched wasn't empty...
Together, the Sawbrooks will have to contend with the old familial ways and the new, shifting world, and face each other—and their pain-filled past—to smuggle one more thing out of their land to safety.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
March 11, 2025 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781538768006
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781538768006
- File size: 2178 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from January 6, 2025
Mulhauser (Sweetgirl) combines atmosphere, suspense, and deep-seated empathy in this stellar family crime saga set in northern Michigan during the early 2000s. The Sawbrooks have owned hundreds of acres along the Crow River for nearly two centuries, but the expansion of a nearby resort has led to a spike in property taxes that’s put the family in financial straits. The stress comes at a difficult time for the clan: patriarch Edward is seriously ill, and his wife, Rhoda, is at odds with their addict son, Buckner, who’s been banned from their property, and their older daughter, Lucy, a park ranger who put her chunk of Sawbrook land into a conservation trust against her parents’ wishes. Meanwhile, the Sawbrooks’ other daughter, Jewell, has agreed, for $10,000, to torch a boat so its owner can collect on a lucrative insurance policy. Jewell carries out the arson, but unexpected complications ensue, threatening her family’s legacy. Mulhauser peppers the action with jaw-dropping twists, but his real strength is in constructing three-dimensional characters whose transgressions feel both plausible and shocking. Readers won’t be able to put this down. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Co. -
February 1, 2025
When Jewell Sawbrook agrees to torch a wealthy summer resident's boat for insurance money, she has no idea the seemingly victimless crime will set off a chain of events that pulls in her entire family. The Sawbrooks may have a checkered history of smuggling goods across the Canadian border and are known for being some of northern Michigan's most stubborn residents, but they don't appreciate being suspects in a potential murder. Mulhauser (Sweetgirl, 2016) offers distinct voices for the rotating cast of Sawbrook family narrators, gradually revealing new motives, information, and opportunities for chaos. The Sawbrooks' complex dynamics take center stage as they navigate long-standing feuds and conflicting loyalties. The heart of Mulhauser's rich and compelling novel focuses on the lengths parents will go to to protect their children, the gift of new perspectives, and the price of holding onto the past. Fans of William Kent Krueger's This Tender Land (2019) and Andrew J. Graff's Raft of Stars (2021) will adore this darkly comic exploration of family loyalty, self-reliance, and desperate choices.COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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