Other teenagers regard the poster as cool and edgy, and copycat versions begin to appear.

The two spend the ensuing summer days hanging the poster around the town, hoping it will be noticed and admired. Frankie kisses Zeke, and this begins their sporadic physical relationship. Zeke creates a drawing to accompany the phrase, and the two make photocopies of the poster, vowing to keep its authorship a secret for life. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us” (38). Frankie writes the phrase, “ The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. He urges Frankie to write something odd and seemingly meaningless that will enchant those who come across the poster. Zeke persuades Frankie to create a poster that they will display throughout Coalfield. Their quest to create something unique leads them to a broken photocopier in Frankie’s garage, stolen a year earlier by her triplet brothers.

Frankie has confessed to Zeke that she is drafting a novel-a type of subversive Nancy Drew fan fiction. Zeke appears to be, like Frankie, friendless, and the two decide to spend their days together.Īn aspiring comic-book artist, Zeke suggests to Frankie that they devote the summer to making art. Zeke and his mother have temporarily moved to his grandmother’s house following Zeke’s father’s infidelity. She meets Zeke at the city’s public pool. Frankie acknowledges the truth of the secret, and the plot shifts to the past.Īt 16, Frankie is bored, occupying her days by watching VHS tapes, eating popsicles, and wandering aimlessly about her empty house. The novel opens with a phone call between adult Frankie (the novel’s narrator) and Mazzy Brower, a reporter who confronts Frankie about a secret from her past. It is the story of two teenagers, self-proclaimed social misfits Frances “Frankie” Budge and Zeke Brown. The novel alternates between its primary setting of Coalfield, Tennessee, during the summer of 1996 and present-day Kentucky. This guide refers to the 2022 hardcover by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins.Ĭontent Warning: The source novel contains depictions of mental illness, including bipolar disorder.

He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Florida. Wilson lives with his wife, poet Leigh Anne Couch, and two sons in Tennessee, where he is Associate Professor of English at Sewanee: The University of the South. The novel was a New York Times bestseller and a “Read with Jenna” Today Show selection. In 2021, the National Endowment for the Arts selected Wilson’s previous novel, Nothing to See Here, for its “Big Read” program. His short stories have been included in the Best American Short Stories series in 20. His work has been featured in numerous journals, including Ploughshares, Southern Review, One Story, A Public Space, and others.

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