Remember Me Like This

Incisive, haunting, and beautifully written, Bret Anthony Johnston's debut novel explores the nature of love and forgiveness when a kidnapped son is returned home. Written by the Director of Creative Writing at Harvard, Remember Me Like This lays bare a family's hope and heartbreak in the aftermath of a devastating crime.

A compelling exploration of human morality, the novel is set on the Texan Gulf over one long, hot summer.

Since Justin Campbell's disappearance four years ago, his family has been stuck in the grooves of grief, unable to save themselves from one another. His mother drives an hour each way to spend time rehabilitating dolphins, his father is having an affair. And his younger brother, Griff, just spends day after day skateboarding in the empty pool of a deserted motel.

And then comes the call from the police. Justin has been found... and he is okay. Though missing for so long, he's only been held across the bay in Corpus Christi, Texas, less than 30 miles away. It's a miracle.

But instead of righting the imbalances within his struggling family, Justin's return threatens to snap the last threads that bind the Campbells to one another. While his reappearance feels like a miracle, it also lays bare the effects of the trauma his parents and brother have suffered, and the book builds to a spectacular denouement...