Holding on to Nothing - by Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne (Paperback)

About the Book

In rural Tennessee, two young people struggle to make a life in a town rife with poverty, guns, and alcohol.

Book Synopsis

In rural Tennessee, two young people struggle to make a life in a town rife with poverty, guns, and alcohol.

"Holding On To Nothing is a resonant song of the South, all whiskey, bluegrass, Dolly Parton, tobacco fields, and women who know better but still fall for the lowdown men whom they know will disappoint them."-Lauren Groff, National Book Award finalist author of Fates and Furies and Florida

Lucy Kilgore has her bags packed for her escape from her rural Tennessee upbringing, but a drunken mistake forever tethers her to the town and one of its least-admired residents, Jeptha Taylor, who becomes the father of her child. Together, these two young people work to form a family, though neither has any idea how to accomplish that, and the odds are against them in a place with little to offer other than bluegrass music, tobacco fields, and a Walmart full of beer and firearms for the hunting season. Their path is harrowing, but Lucy and Jeptha are characters to love, and readers will root for their success in a novel so riveting that no one will want to turn out the light until they know whether this family will survive.

This new paperback edition features a readers' guide in the back of the book with questions for discussion and an interview with the author.

Review Quotes

Named One of the Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2019 by The Millions

Named One of the 25 Books to read in the second half of 2019 by The Week

Selected as an Okra Pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance

Named One of the 5 Hottest Debuts of Fall 2019 by The Writer

"Shelburne's stunning debut novel is a long trip into small-town Tennessee. . .riveting, touching, heart-wrenching, tragic, and beautiful." -Booklist

"Holding On To Nothing is a resonant song of the South, all whiskey, bluegrass, Dolly Parton, tobacco fields, and women who know better but still fall for the lowdown men whom they know will disappoint them. Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne writes with extraordinary love and compassion of the lives of her flawed characters; she shines a clear, calm light on their tragedies, their joys, and their hard-won redemptions." --Lauren Groff, Florida and Fates and Furies

"Forget Hillbilly Elegy and read this gorgeous novel instead. Every detail is exactly right. Contemporary themes of work and no work, drinking, sex, guns, music, community, and no future--along with in-depth character development and a hard-driving plot--make this a book you literally cannot put down." --Lee Smith, Dimestore: A Writer's Life and The Last Girls

"With her immense empathy for her characters, Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne refuses to give the reader a simple, and stereotypical, tale of Appalachian dysfunction. Instead, we get a story of a seemingly star-crossed couple striving to create a better life in the most trying of circumstances. Holding On To Nothing is a gem." --Ron Rash, Serena

About the Author

Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne grew up in the Appalachian foothills of East Tennessee. A graduate of Amherst College, her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, Broad River Review, and Barren Magazine, among others. Her debut novel Holding On To Nothing won an IPPY gold for Best Regional Fiction from the South and was long-listed for the Clara Johnson Award. She lives in Cambridge, MA with her husband and four children.