It was the summer everything changed.…

My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh

About this book: My Sunshine Away unfolds in a Baton Rouge neighborhood best known for cookouts on sweltering summer afternoons, cauldrons of spicy crawfish, and passionate football fandom. But in the summer of 1989, when fifteen-year-old Lindy Simpson—free spirit, track star, and belle of the block—experiences a horrible crime late one evening near her home, it becomes apparent that this idyllic stretch of Southern suburbia has a dark side, too.

In My Sunshine Away, M.O. Walsh brilliantly juxtaposes the enchantment of a charmed childhood with the gripping story of a violent crime, unraveling families, and consuming adolescent love.

About the author: (from his website) M.O. Walsh was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His stories and essays have appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Southern Review, American Short Fiction, Epoch, and Greensboro Review. His short stories have also been anthologized in Best New American Voices, Bar Stories, Best of the Net and Louisiana in Words. He is a graduate of the Ole Miss MFA program and currently lives in New Orleans, LA, where he is the Director of the Creative Writing Workshop at The University of New Orleans.   He also directs the The Yokshop Writers Conference in Oxford, MS. You can follow him on Facebook.

Genre: Fiction

If this book were a movie, I would rate it: R for profanity and mature content

Reminds me of… A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

This story matters because…it’s about the depths of familial bonds, the power of story, and the ability of forgiveness to transform our lives.

My take: Where to begin? Here I am weeks after reading the last page and I’m still catching my breath, trying to discern what this book meant to me. My Sunshine Away is just…well, it’s that kind of book, the sort that takes you by the scruff, shakes you up, drops you to the ground, and then walks away, leaving you spinning.

Here’s what I know:

This book is not for everyone. I would not, for example, hand it to my mother saying, “Here, Mom, you gotta read this.” No. And please–pay attention to the R rating and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

However.

I ripped through this book in four days flat.

It possesses one of the most vibrant voices I’ve ever encountered in contemporary literature.

It’s gripping and raw and true and beautiful. And even though I almost stopped reading twice because it took me to the edge of where I’m willing to go, I’m glad I pushed through. Because in the end I found redemption. Beauty. Promise. All of those good things we hope will emerge from the ashes of bad choices and the ugliness of life.

I liked it for these reasons, and for the fact that even though it’s set in the deep South, for once it isn’t a story about race. It is instead about human nature, a deeply profound metaphor about the wrenching loss we endure when we leave the innocence of childhood behind.

Yet its last notes are not ones of sorrow, but of hope. And forgiveness. And the transforming power of love.

It’s a story that haunts me still.

[Tweet “Haunting and hopeful, a stunning debut: My Sunshine Away @M_O_Walsh”]

Thanks to G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin for providing me a free copy to review. All opinions are mine.

After words: M.O. Walsh set his story in Baton Rouge, the city of his youth (and, indeed, where he still resides). If you were to write a story based on your childhood, which town would be its setting?

You can read an excerpt of My Sunshine Away by clicking here. Want more? Enter this drawing for your chance to win a copy of your very own. a Rafflecopter giveaway