Sublimity Canyon

A luminous, beautifully observed novel about the damage we do to the people and places we love, and what it means to begin again in a world forever changed by our actions

“A searing, surprising coming-of-age novel unlike any I've read . . . This is a moving, unforgettable story about hometowns, queer friendship, destruction, and renewal—and what it takes to rebuild a self, a friendship, a family, and ultimately, a world.”—Eliana Ramage, author of To the Moon and Back

The great miracle of my life was that no one died.

The Montana canyon where Howell spent their childhood was once a place of refuge, beauty, and possibility. Then, in a single reckless moment, Howell set off a wildfire that consumed millions of acres, changing the landscape forever—and the course of their own life. In the years that followed, Howell became a symbol of environmental destruction, bound by a decade of probation and fifty million dollars in restitution for a mistake that never stopped making headlines.

Now, as that sentence nears its end, Howell stands at the threshold of an adulthood they have spent years yearning for. But time is not the same as absolution. As the past begins to surface in unexpected ways, Howell, like the canyon itself, must reckon with what has been lost, what cannot be restored, and what might yet take root.

Luminous and beautifully observed, Sublimity Canyon examines how we overcome the damage we do to the people and places we love, and what it means to start anew in the aftermath of our worst mistakes.