Publishers Weekly
★ 06/24/2024
Autistic transgender 16-year-old Miles Abernathy and his socialist family have been feuding with Twist Creek’s governing powers ever since a former sheriff killed Miles’s great-great-grandfather, who led a labor strike a century ago. After finding proof of current sheriff Davies’s involvement in a fatal incident that injured Miles’s father and disrupted locals’ efforts to have Davies removed from power, Miles and his friend Cooper are violently attacked by the sheriff’s son and his gang. Following the assault, Miles is haunted by a strangely familiar figure wearing a red bandana and ends up embroiled in deadly, simmering tensions that will change the course of Twist Creek forever. Frank and evocative language by White (The Spirit Bares Its Teeth) confronts harrowing circumstances surrounding what decades of being “crunched under the boot of a rightwing government”—and the failure of Twist Creek residents to engage with Appalachia’s long history of worker-centered advocacy—have wrought within the region. White’s latest is a stunning testament to the intertwining realities of politics and queerness, as well as community focused ideologies and the impact of those ideals in the face of oppression. The protagonists cue as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer March Soloway, Andrea Brown Literary. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
★ "White’s latest is a stunning testament to the intertwining realities of politics and queerness, as well as community focused ideologies and the impact of those ideals in the face of oppression."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
★ "Tremendously suspenseful. . . The hopeful, satisfying ending emerges from community collaboration. Unflinching and empowering."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"This unapologetically gruesome story of a trans Appalachian teen channeling strength to preserve his family's legacy amidst intergenerational trauma has the power to leave readers profoundly changed."—Shelf Awareness
"White has crafted an engrossing horror-thriller that wears its heart—and guts—on its sleeve. Defiant to the end, Compound Fracture uses a century-old blood feud, Appalachian history and politics, and a touch of the supernatural to explore the ways new generations must reckon with old wrongs." —Erica Waters, author of The River Has Teeth and All That Consumes Us
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2024-05-30
An autistic, transgender teen seeks justice as a 100-year-old feud threatens his family and anyone who associates with them.
In 1917, the sheriff of Twist Creek County executed a man named Saint Abernathy, leader of the coal miners’ strike, by hammering a railroad spike through his mouth. A century later, the mines have closed, but Miles, as an Abernathy, is caught up in the cycle of oppression and violent vengeance that killed his great-great-grandfather Saint. On the night of the annual high school graduation party, Miles hits send on an email telling his parents he’s trans and then sneaks out of the house with photos stolen from his father’s lockbox—photos offering proof that Sheriff Davies caused the “accident” that killed Miles’ former best friend Cooper’s mother five years ago. Before Cooper and Miles can decide on their next steps, the feud is reignited, and neither of them can outrun the flames. White captures violence with vivid and lethal precision. Set in rural West Virginia in 2017, this tremendously suspenseful, queer coming-of-age thriller confronts the impact of economic injustice, local political corruption, and generational trauma. As Miles fights for himself and his family, he’s haunted by the ghost of Saint Abernathy. His struggle to understand his ancestor parallels his journey to understand and accept himself. The cast of white characters includes representation of those who are marginalized for being fat, disabled, and queer and living with disfigurement. The hopeful, satisfying ending emerges from community collaboration.
Unflinching and empowering.(Thriller. 14-18)
