"For anyone who believes, as I do, that the best hope for our fractured country is local, not national, Christian Kiefers new novelThe Heart of it Allwill provide a welcome balm for the spirit. Here are people worth spending time with, not because theyre perfect, but because theyre not. Whats wrong with them isnt nearly as consequential as how hard they fight for a better life, and not just for themselves. You set the book down and think, This is what were made of. Or should be."Richard Russo, author ofSomebodys Fool

A small, declining town in Ohio. A family bereaved by terrible loss. A searing narrative about how American lives touch each other across divides both real and imagined...

Set in failing small town in central Ohio,The Heart of It Allasks how one manages, in an America of increasing division, to find a sense of family and community.

Focusing on the members of three families: the Baileys, a white family who have put down deep roots in the community; the Marwats, an immigrant family that owns the towns largest employer; and the Shaws, especially young Anthony, an outsider whose very presence gently shakes the towns understanding of itself.

A gorgeous, stirring novel in the classic vein of Richard Ford, Marilynne Robinson, Richard Russo, and Kent Haruf,The Heart of It Allasks the reader to consider an America both divided and bound by its differences.