The City by Larry Shannon

Prophesied. Born to be extraordinary. Destined to fail the one person who needs him most.

Clark Calloway's father receives a divine dream promising a son — then spends twenty-five years trying to rationalize it away, leaving Clark to navigate his exceptional nature without guidance. Clark possesses an almost supernatural moral clarity that both elevates and isolates him, drawing others to him even as it pushes them away. His connection to Jenny Barclay feels written in the stars, a love so profound he believes winning her affection is intrinsically tied to his life's purpose. But after Jenny endures a traumatic assault during a fight, Clark's psyche splits, unable to reconcile the girl he loved with the wounded girl before him. Jenny falls under the control of brilliant, disturbed Damon Veeder, who systematically dismantles her identity while Clark withdraws, pouring his soul into drawings that hint at architectural visions he cannot yet articulate. Clark's friend Kacy warns him that moral inflexibility will destroy him, that greatness requires compromise. Can Clark fulfill the prophecy of his birth without sacrificing the people who make that life worth living?

The City: Comprising Certain Fragments, also Reminiscences, from the Life of Clark Calloway, is the second installment in Larry Shannon's Son of My Hope, a literary coming-of-age series set against the stark beauty of southern Utah. If you crave psychologically complex characters, the tension between faith and reason, and prose influenced by classical literature and Mormon scripture, then you'll be mesmerized by Shannon's unflinching portrait of adolescent struggle.

Pick up this extraordinary journey of self-discovery now.