Angie, Alex, Heinz, Sandra and Andrew discuss the novel.
‘Haunted by a freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they possibly could. Jim has belittled his big-hearted brother their whole lives, and Bob, who idolizes Jim, has always taken it in his stride.
But their long-standing dynamic is upended when their sister, Susan – the sibling who stayed behind – urgently calls them home. Her teenage son, Zach, has landed in a world of trouble by throwing a half-frozen pig’s head into a Somali mosque. Susan desperately needs help. And so the Burgess Brothers return to the landscape of their childhood, where the long-buried tensions that have shaped and overshadowed their relationship begins to surface in unexpected ways that will change them forever.’