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How can a total stranger understand you better than the people you've known your entire life?
When Lance's '93 Buick breaks down in the middle of nowhere, he tells himself Don't panic. After all, he's valedictorian of his class. First-chair trumpet player. Scholarship winner. Nothing can stop Lance Hendricks.
But the locals don't know that. They don't even know his name. Stuck in a small town, Lance could be anyone: a delinquent, a traveler, a maniac. One of the townies calls him Wildman, and a new world opens up.
He's ordering drinks at a roadhouse. Jumping a train. Talking to an intriguing older girl who is asking about his future. And what he really wants. As one day blurs into the next, Lance finds himself drifting farther from home and closer to a girl who makes him feel a way he's never felt before - like himself.
This debut novel by a remarkable new talent explores the relationship between identity and place, the power of being seen, and the speed at which a well-planned life can change forever.
"Starred Review. A thought-provoking, hilarious, eloquent story of a young man realizing that the world is much larger than the one set up for him." - Kirkus
"The book's world is a bit binary - it's either dreams or drudgery - but it effectively conveys the necessity of finding one's true self. Ages 14–up." - Publishers Weekly
This information about Wildman was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
J. C. Geiger has eaten the beating heart of a snake, been deported from a full-moon party, and spent a short time locked in a Bolivian prison. He also writes fiction. His short works have appeared in the pages of Murky Depths and Horror Garage, and on stage at The Second City in Chicago. J. C. now writes, teaches, directs, and performs in the Pacific Northwest, where he can often be spotted behind the wheel of a 1993 Buick Century. It still runs like a dream.
If you liked Wildman, try these:
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by Sigrid Nunez
Published 2021
The New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-winning author of The Friend brings her singular voice to a story about the meaning of life and death, and the value of companionship.
by Hazel Prior
Published 2020
A rich, heartwarming and charming debut novel that reminds us that sometimes you find love in the most unexpected places.
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
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