The Girl from Charnelle

From Strand Bookstore

With his debut novel 'The Girl from Charnelle,' K.L. Cook gives his readers a gut-wrenching picture of a young woman dealing with the tormented repercussions of love. Laura Tate dutifully takes care of her father and three brothers in the Panhandle town of Charnelle, Texas, in 1960. Which isn't so bad, except for the fact that her mother boarded a bus and vanished mysteriously over a year earlier. Somehow, the sixteen-year-old makes due. Until, that is, she comes across a married man and is propelled into a difficult relationship for which she isn't prepared. 'The Girl from Charnelle' is an unforgettable first novel from a strong, assured new voice in American literature.

From the Publisher

In 1960 Charnelle, Texas, sixteen-year-old Laura Tate takes on responsibility for the Tate household in the wake of her sister's elopement and her mother's abandonment, dealing with her father and her three brothers, a task that leaves her emotionally vulnerable and draws her into a complicated relationship with a married man. A first novel.