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Nicholas and April are driving home from a party when their car crashes on an empty road high up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. As they lay on the roadside slowly dying, their four-year-old son, Jack, waits for them at home.
In the days after their deaths, their grieving relatives begin to descend on the family home. There, they are forced to decide who will care for the child Nicholas and April left behind. Nicholas’s brother Nathaniel and his wife Stefanie aren’t ready to be parents, but Nicholas’s mother and father have issues of their own. And April’s mother Tammy is driving across the country to claim her grandson.
Spanning a few traumatic days in the minds of each family member, this is a masterly portrait of grief, the pain of sudden loss and a family in utter crisis. Gripping, affecting and extremely accomplished, this unforgettable story asks one crucial question: what do you do when the worst happens?
About the author
Alan Rossi was born in 1980 in Columbus, Ohio. His fiction has appeared in Granta, the Atlantic, Missouri Review, Conjunctions, Agni, and Ninth Letter, among others. His novella Did You Really Just Say That To Me? was awarded the third annual New England Review Award for Emerging Writers, and he was the New England Review/Bread Loaf Scholar for 2017. He is also the recipient of a Pushcart Prize for his story ‘Unmoving Like a Mighty River Stilled’, and an O. Henry Prize for ‘The Buddhist’. He lives in South Carolina with his wife and daughter. Mountain Road, Late at Night is his first novel.
Summary
'Through sharply drawn characters, Rossi achieves a clear-eyed and poignant view of a family in crisis' - Sydney Morning Herald
A fatal car crash. A young boy orphaned. Who should now become his parents?
Nicholas and April are driving home from a party when their car crashes on an empty road high up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. As they lay on the roadside slowly dying, their four-year-old son, Jack, waits for them at home. In the days after their deaths, their grieving relatives begin to descend on the family home. There, they are forced to decide who will care for the child Nicholas and April left behind. Nicholas’s brother Nathaniel and his wife Stefanie aren’t ready to be parents, but Nicholas’s mother and father have issues of their own. And April’s mother Tammy is driving across the country to claim her grandson.
Spanning a few traumatic days in the minds of each family member, Mountain Road, Late at Night, is a masterly portrait of grief, the pain of sudden loss and a family in utter crisis. Gripping, affecting and extremely accomplished, Alan Rossi's unforgettable debut asks one crucial question: what do you do when the worst happens?
Foreword
When a couple are killed on an isolated road in North Carolina they leave behind an orphaned son and grieving relatives who must decide between them who will be his caretaker, in a compulsive novel exploring the nature of family.
Additional text
A minor miracle: a Buddhist instruction manual that is also a deeply compelling novel
