The View from a Rusty Train Car

No one talks about what happens when you fall in love with the boy next door—not when you're the boy living beside the boy next door.

Jared has a story to tell and hopes to make a difference.

He and Luke grew up in a small Midwestern town where tradition is unquestioned, and deviation is dangerous. Their bond began over video games and a tree fort, but as childhood faded, they realised what they shared was deeper and must be kept hidden. An abandoned, rusted train car at the edge of a junkyard becomes their refuge.

When the outside world breaches their sanctuary, their lives are forever changed. Faith becomes a weapon, causing fear, isolation, and unanswered questions, forcing them to build lives apart.

After a life-altering homecoming years earlier, urgent news about Luke draws Jared back to the town and the people he once fled, where he must confront buried truths and long-held fears and decide whether first love can endure or whether some love was destined to live only in memory.

Raw, intimate, and unflinching, The View from a Rusty Train Car is an epic coming-of-age novel about first love, survival, and the journey toward self-acceptance. It has been honoured with awards from Foreword Reviews, the National Indie Excellence Awards, and the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

Think you know the whole story? This Special Edition features an exclusive, never-before-released final chapter.