If I Knew You Were Going to Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go

For fans of Pam Houstons Cowboys Are My Weaknessa novel in stories about a young woman and her town in the early 1970s It is the summer of 1972, and Katie has just turned eighteen. Katie and her town, Elephant Beach, are both on the verge: Katie of adulthood, Elephant Beach of gentrificationbut not yet. Elephant Beach is still gritty, working-class, close-knit. And Katie spends her time smoking and drinking with her friends, dreaming about a boy just back from Vietnam whos still fighting a battle Katie cant understand. Impeccably crafted and hugely affectionate, this novel in stories is a vivid portrait of a place whose conflictsbetween mothers and daughters, men and women, haves and have-notsreverberate to our own time.