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Lone Stars

A Novel

Justin Deabler

St. Martin's Press

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ISBN10: 1250256100
ISBN13: 9781250256102

Hardcover

304 Pages

$27.99

CA$37.99

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Lone Stars follows the arc of four generations of a Texan family in a changing America. Julian Warner, a father at last, wrestles with a question his husband posed: what will you tell our son about the people you came from, now that they're gone?

Finding the answers takes Julian back in time to Eisenhower's immigration border raids, an epistolary love affair during the Vietnam War, crumbling marriages, queer migrations to Cambridge and New York, up to the disorienting polarization of Obama's second term. And in these answers lies a hope: that by uncloseting ourselves—as immigrants, smart women, gay people—we find power in empathy.

Reviews

Praise for Lone Stars

"Desperately affecting . . . The accumulation of small, ordinary moments gives this novel its eventual power."—The New York Times

"The characters of Lone Stars are complex and haunted, recognizable to Texans everywhere . . . immersive and more often a delight, sometimes a revelation. Deabler is a conductor of emotion . . . Lone Stars tells a universal story, as all good books do."—Lone Star Literary Life

"A worthy first novel by Justin Deabler . . . This fast-moving book fully and sympathetically illuminates the varied lives of the three Texans at the heart of the story. They go through serious ups and downs, and that’s what life—and good storytelling—is all about."—The Vietnam Veterans of America

"Growing up gay in Houston, Texas does not sound like a recipe for an easy life, but it is a rich, meaningful, and endlessly interesting life, portrayed with sensitivity and verve in Lone Stars, a triumphant debut by Justin Deabler."—Matthew Sharpe, author of The Sleeping Father

"Deabler's lovely first novel read as if preserved in ambercome from a gentler and more generous time. Enormously poignant, Lone Stars is written with great care, honoring the nuanced and shifting shapes of two men moving together through the great journey of being fully alive . . . It illuminates with its tenderness, it's quiet clarity, and finally its vision of hope."—Carole Maso, author of Ava

“Deabler's wide-ranging empathy and emotional intelligence mark him as an important new writer to watch.”—Eliot Schrefer, National Book Award finalist, author of Endangered and Threatened

“At once epic and timely, Deabler's stunning multi-generational novel is a deep dive into the complexities of family and identity. It is a reminder of how frequently American history repeats, a complicated love song to Texas, and (I'll be honest) a tear-jerker. You won't be able to set this one down.”—Diana Spechler, author of Who by Fire and Skinny

"Lone Stars is a wonderfully humane and honest novel about a complicated modern American family. This perfectly paced story builds on secrets, betrayals and unconditional love toward a big-hearted ending that may leave you in tears."—Jim Lynch, author of Before the Wind

"Deabler’s bighearted debut . . . this novel proudly and emotionally defines what it means to be from the Lone Star State."—Publishers Weekly

BOOK EXCERPTS

Read an Excerpt

1

The Man with the Muddy Boots


For the first time in her life, Lacy Adams paid attention in church. There was nothing special about the service that Sunday. Her dad sat beside her, blank-faced as usual. Junior...

About the author

Justin Deabler

Justin Deabler grew up in Houston. He dropped out of high school when he was fifteen, went to Simon's Rock College, and graduated from Harvard Law School. He is the General Counsel for the Queens Public Library. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband, son, and two cats. Lone Stars is his first novel.

Courtesy of the author