Holding Back the Tide

By Frank J Deruosi

"DeRuosi opens a vivid window into the world of modern teens... It is far too easy to not see that everyone is going through something, and this book will forever open our eyes." -Tim Smyth, author of Teaching with Comics and Graphic Novels

Some fathers leave a note. Charlie McIntyre's father left nothing, and that nothing has been eating him alive ever since January.

A Jersey Shore summer is supposed to fix what Pennsylvania couldn't. The salt air, the old friendships, the girl who has liked him since they were both thirteen. The grief is supposed to loosen. It doesn't. And the longer it doesn't, the harder his fists close and the more damage he leaves behind.

Coming of age is supposed to look like first love and late nights and summers that feel endless. For Charlie, it looks like loss, fury, and the slow ruin of every connection he cannot bring himself to protect.

He has one summer to fall apart, and one question left standing: are the people who stayed worth the terrifying work of letting them in?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1685131964
• ISBN13: 9781685131968
• Release Date: May 2023
• Publisher: Black Rose Writing
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 13 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary