Brothers Frank and Jerry Lee are on the run after a hit-and-run accident. Interweaving past and present, Vlautin unfolds the story of their unhappy lives--lives afflicted by drink, bleak economic circumstances, and family misfortune.

Determined to prove his worth, a half-Paiute, half-Irish ranch hand who was abandoned by his parents leaves his aging guardians to become a champion boxer before matches organized in Mexico and Las Vegas lead to his realization that he cannot change his identity or outrun his destiny.

Severely wounded in the Iraq war, Leroy Kervin has lived in a group home for eight years. Frustrated by the simplest daily routines, he finds his existence has become unbearable. An act of desperation helps him disappear deep into his mind, into a world of romance and science fiction, danger and adventure where he is whole once again. Freddie McCall, the night man at Leroy's group home, works two jobs yet still can't make ends meet. He's lost his...

"Al Ward, a grizzled former journeyman musician in his 60s who lives in isolation, finds himself running out of reasons to go on until a nameless, blind and utterly helpless horse arrives on his doorstep, and as he contemplates the animal's existence, his thoughts become interspersed with memories of his past."-- ''"Willy Vlautin writes about people overlooked by society and overlooked by literature. In The Horse, he tells the story of a tenderhearted...

A searing and profound examination of brotherhood set in the timeless Sierra Nevadan frontier. Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan work odd jobs, drink hard, and drift from motel to motel. Their only escape is through Frank's fantastic stories and Jerry Lee's rich illustrations. Everything changes when Jerry Lee is involved in a hit-and-run accident, which forces the brothers across the state to the home of Frank's old flame, Annie.