In the novel-in-fragments, BURN FORTUNE, 16-year-old June is a corn-detasseling flag twirler who lives in a small conservative town in the early 90s Midwest. Her family is dysfunctional but her boyfriend—known only as “My Boyfriend”—has a family who is emotionally and physically abusive. Looking for alternatives to the lives of the women who surround her, June becomes obsessed with the actress Jean Seberg (best known for her starring role in Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless) as well as Joan of Arc. After being raped by an acquaintance, June withdraws and begins to live mostly through Seberg’s films. Offered these lives as alternatives to her own, June is left to wonder: Can anyone truly transcend their circumstances, or does having a dream mean death—literally and metaphorically?

“A scorching anthem of what it means to be a young girl in a small town—the dreams that save us and the realities that pull us under. Alive with longing and the desire to break free. 

 —Mona Awad, Author of Bunny (Viking) and 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl (Penguin)

I’m in awe of how Brandi Homan’s Burn Fortune embodies the Midwest’s unfurled earth and stretched skies. There’s a recurring image of detasseling corn, which is what the book does: everything connected by silky strands unraveling until we get to the core, a new image of grit and possibility. And Homan gracefully gives us the space to participate in the making of that new image. Thank you for the grit, the hope.

—Steven Dunn, Author of Potted Meat and water & power (Tarpaulin Sky)

 ISBN: 9781944866426