Chevy in the Hole -- Kelsey Ronan, Hardcover

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

A gorgeous, unflinching love letter to Flint, Michigan, and the resilience of its people, Kelsey Ronan's Chevy in the Hole follows multiple generations of two families making their homes there, with a stunning contemporary love story at its center.

In the opening pages of Chevy in the Hole, August "Gus" Molloy has just overdosed in a bathroom stall of the Detroit farm-to-table restaurant where he works. Shortly after, he packs it in and returns home to his family in Flint. This latest slip and recommitment to sobriety doesn't feel too terribly different from the others, until Gus meets Monae, an urban farmer trying to coax a tenuous rebirth from the city's damaged land. Through her eyes, he sees what might be possible in a city everyone else seems to have forgotten or, worse, given up on. But as they begin dreaming up an oasis together, even the most essential resources can't be counted on.

Woven throughout their story are the stories of their families--Gus's white and Monae's Black--members of which have had their own triumphs and devastating setbacks trying to survive and thrive in Flint. A novel about the things that change over time and the things that don't, Chevy in the Hole reminds us again and again what people need from one another and from the city they call home.

Author: Kelsey Ronan
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Published: 03/15/2022
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.82lbs
Size: 8.56h x 5.76w x 1.08d
ISBN: 9781250803900

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 10/01/2021 pg. 3
Kirkus Reviews 01/15/2022
Publishers Weekly 01/17/2022
Booklist 02/15/2022 pg. 15

About the Author
Kelsey Ronan grew up in Flint, Michigan. Her work has appeared in Lit Hub, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Kenyon Review and elsewhere. She lives in Detroit and teaches for InsideOut Literary Arts. Chevy in the Hole is her first nove