My Sunshine Away

January 26, 2015
In Walshâs debut, a horrible crime shatters a community in 1989 Baton Rouge, La., when teenager Lindy Simpson is raped and her attacker is never caught. The nameless narrator of this tale is an adolescent boy with a crush on Lindy. The narratorâs love for Lindy manifests in a desperate desire to connect with her under any circumstances, causing him to be suspected of her assault. This need to connect grows stronger after his sister dies in a freak accident and that draws him and Lindy closer together. Everything comes to a head when he tries to play the hero and expose the man he thinks was her rapist on their street. Walshâs novel is both tenderly nostalgic and a window into a unique and specific corner of America. The narration moves seamlessly between the adult narratorâs thoughts and his memories as a teenager. Despite the dark subject matter, this book is often charming, and thoroughly immersive. Agent: Renee Zuckerbrot, the Renee Zuckerbrot Literary Agency.

Starred review from November 15, 2014
The 1989 rape of a 15-year-old golden girl profoundly alters her suburban Baton Rouge neighborhood and all those who love her."I imagine that many children in South Louisiana have stories similar to this one, and when they grow up, they move out into the world and tell them," says the narrator of Walsh's debut novel, looking back on the floods, fires, mosquitoes, heat waves and psychopaths of his childhood. Probably so-but only a few can do it with the beauty, terror and wisdom found in these addictive pages. When Lindy Simpson's childhood is abruptly ended one evening as she bikes home from track practice, so much goes with it, including the innocence of the 14-year-old boy who loves her to the point of obsession-and eventually becomes a suspect in the crime himself. He fills in the events of the next few years in a style that recalls the best of Pat Conroy: the rich Southern atmosphere, the interplay of darkness and light in adolescence, the combination of brisk narrative suspense with philosophical musings on memory, manhood and truth. All the supporting characters, from the neighborhood kids and parents to walk-ons like the narrator's cool uncle Barry and a guy we meet in the penultimate chapter at the LSU/Florida Gators game in 2007, are both particular and real. So is the ambience of late '80s and early '90s America, from the explosion of the Challenger to the Jeffrey Dahmer nightmare. In fact, one of the very few missteps is a weirdly dropped-in disquisition on Hurricane Katrina. That's easy to forgive, though, as you suck down the story like a cold beer on a hot Louisiana afternoon. Celebrate, fiction lovers: The gods of Southern gothic storytelling have inducted a junior member.

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Starred review from December 15, 2014
Thought to be perfectly safe, suburban Baton Rouge in the late 1980s nevertheless had a vibe that was more Ozzy Osbourne than Ozzie Nelson. Still, the rape of 15-year-old Lindy Simpson just yards from her own home had repercussions throughout idyllic Woodland Hills, and the events of that summer and their remaining high-school years are narrated by the 14-year-old boy who worshiped Lindy from his bedroom window across the street. Himself one of four suspects, the narrator in Walsh's debut novel is driven by a misguided desire to solve the crime, deliver Lindy unscathed back in time, and win her heart. Only slightly deterred by the death of his sister and divorce of his parents, he eventually uncovers the truth but at a cost that virtually destroys everyone else in the process. Subtly malevolent in exposing the ways innocence can be corrupted, Walsh's distinctive exploration of teenage self-absorption and self-recrimination is told from the vantage point of the narrator as an adult who understands that teens are armed with most of the tools but little of the knowledge needed to take on the world. Suspenseful, compassionate, and absorbing, Walsh's word-perfect rendering of the doubts, insecurities, bravado, and idealism of teens deserves to be placed in the hands of readers of Tom Franklin, Hannah Pittard, and Jeffrey Eugenides.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2014

Folks have been talking about Walsh's debut since it was chosen as a BookExpo America Buzz Book. The setting is the hot Louisiana summer of 1989, the narrator is a 14-year-old boy obsessed with sunny-haired Lindy Simpson, and the plot centers on a terrible crime that upends the neighborhood.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014

The kids of Piney Creek Road in Baton Rouge, LA, live simply and happily, dreaming about school dances and racing one another on their street. But one evening in the summer of 1989, a terrible crime takes place. The event reverberates in the community for years to come, especially for one 14-year-old boy who was forever changed by what happened. This debut novel from the author of the award-winning short story collection The Prospect of Magic is much more than a simple coming-of-age story; it is a rumination on how events in one's life can appear differently depending on where and when they are experienced and recalled. VERDICT As a Baton Rouge native, Walsh gives the reader an intimate understanding of the place as if it were a beloved but misunderstood grandmother. Rarely does a new author display the skill to develop a page-turner with such a literary tone. Readers of both popular and literary fiction will get their fixes from this novel. [See Prepub Alert, 8/4/14.]--Shannon Greene, Greenville Technical Coll. Lib., SC

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.