Staff Picks: The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring

Set in 1990, this short novel about the fictional community of Dalton, Maine, serves as a thoughtful and affectionate portrait of small-town life, filled with characters who have known each other for decades and whose lives have come to overlap in countless ways. Any reader who has lived in rural America will recognize the author’s portrayal of the counterbalance between intimacy and distance that arises between people who have so much history between them. And readers with knowledge of rural Maine will find the author’s depiction both authentic and familiar. Come for the portrait of small-town life, but stay for the dramatic turns, quickening pace, and beautifully spare language in this debut.

Laurel, Reference

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