Compound Fracture BY Andrew Joseph White

Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White is a gripping queer Appalachian thriller that follows sixteen-year-old Miles Abernathy, a trans and autistic teen from West Virginia, as he’s thrust into a deadly generational feud. On the night Miles comes out to his parents, he sneaks off to a party with evidence that could expose the corrupt Sheriff Davies as the man responsible for the accident that injured his father and killed others—crushing their efforts to unseat the sheriff and liberate their community.

This blood feud traces back a hundred years to when Miles’s great-great-grandfather, Saint Abernathy, led a miners’ rebellion that ended in his public execution. Now, Miles becomes the feud's latest victim as the sheriff’s son and his friends hunt him down, beat him nearly to death, and force him to confront the brutal realities of their town’s history. In the hospital, Miles is visited by the ghost of a soot-covered man, while Sheriff Davies threatens him into silence.

But when Miles accidentally kills one of the boys who attacked him, he discovers allies in Twist Creek who are also desperate to break free from the sheriff's oppressive reign. They’re willing to risk everything, but are they ready for the fight that lies ahead?

Compound Fracture is a visceral, politically charged novel that doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of systemic injustice. Aimed at teens hungry for radical change, this powerful story is as relentless as the fight for a better world.