Sixteen-year-old Elijah Miller has grown up all his life in the insular religious community of Freetonia, Pennsylvania. His mother left when he was one, his father is an abusive alcoholic, and he can’t even hang out with his best friend anymore due to some unwelcome feelings that have been budding up.
When Elijah and his father are forced to move, the world opens up to him more than he could have ever imagined. But when he decides to go back to his old town for a visit, Elijah is forced to face the prospect that everything he thought he knew might have been a lie. If he digs into the past, he risks upsetting the precarious peace he has recently found, but if he ignores it, is that sense of peace even real?
When Elijah and his father are forced to move, the world opens up to him more than he could have ever imagined. But when he decides to go back to his old town for a visit, Elijah is forced to face the prospect that everything he thought he knew might have been a lie. If he digs into the past, he risks upsetting the precarious peace he has recently found, but if he ignores it, is that sense of peace even real?