A “powerful” novel of young soldiers in Afghanistan and on the home front (Esquire). A Florida Book Awards Gold Medalist Longlisted for the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize Winner of the Military Writers Association of America Bronze Medal Wintric Ellis joins the army as soon as he graduates from high school, saying goodbye to his girlfriend, Kristen, and to the backwoods California town whose borders have always been the limits of his horizon. Deployed for two years in Afghanistan in a directionless war, he struggles to find his bearings in a place where allies could at any second turn out to be foes. Two career soldiers, Dax and Torres, take Wintric under their wing. Together, these three men will face an impossible choice: risk death or commit a harrowing act of war. The aftershocks echo long after each returns home to a transfigured world, where a veteran’s own children may fear to touch him and his nightmares still hold sway. Moving backward and forward in time to track these unforgettable characters from childhood to parenthood, from redwood forests to open desert roads to the streets of Kabul, I’d Walk with My Friends If I Could Find Them is a work of disarming eloquence and heart-wrenching wisdom from “one of the very rare authors who writes with authoritative insight into the warfare of the twenty-first century” (Robert Olen Butler). “Bracing, riveting.” —Siobhan Fallon, author of You Know When the Men Are Gone “Add Jesse Goolsby to the list of promising military-experienced writers including Phil Klay.” —Military Times “One of the best works of literature to come from these wars.” —storySouth

In this powerful debut novel, three American soldiers haunted by their actions in Afghanistan search for absolution and human connectionin family and civilian life. Wintric Ellis joins the army as soon as he graduates from high school, saying goodbye to his girlfriend, Kristen, and to the backwoods California town whose borders have always been the limits of his horizon. Deployed in Afghanistan two years into a directionless war, he struggles to find his bearings in a place where allies could at any second turn out to be foes. Two career soldiers, Dax and Torres, take Wintric under their wing. Together, these three men face an impossible choice: risk death or commit a harrowing act of war. The aftershocks echo long after each returns home to a transfigured world, where his own children may fear to touch him and his nightmares still hold sway. Jesse Goolsby casts backward and forward in time to track these unforgettable characters from childhood to parenthood, from redwood forests to open desert roads to the streets of Kabul. Hailed by Robert Olen Butler as a "major literary event," I'd Walk with My Friends If I Could Find Them is a work of disarming eloquence and heart-wrenching wisdom, and a debut novel from a writer to watch.

This beautiful collection of heartfelt poems by renowned poet Susan Polis Schutz, singer/songwriter Donna Fargo, and others celebrates the joys of true friendship.

A raw, moving and uplifting memoir about courage, resilience and the transformative power of love, from one of Australia's most captivating personalities 'Powerful, heartbreaking and beautiful ... a story of incredible triumph fuelled by love and compassion' Osher Gunsberg 'Brooke Blurton is an icon for people of all generations and backgrounds. I love seeing her star shine.' Clementine Ford My story is about the one thing that I never went without. Love. Big love, that filled me up and made me feel like there was a future for me. The kind of love that's unconditional, and that lasts across time and space ... From the moment Brooke Blurton appeared on Australian television, she dazzled audiences with her authenticity, self-knowledge, generosity and honesty. As a proud young Noongar-Yamatji woman, Brooke's connection to her culture and country is deep, and as an openly queer woman, she knows that love is simply love. Most of all Brooke knows the importance of family, and the uplifting power of unconditional connection. But behind the public persona Brooke presents to the world is a story of epic proportions and awe-inspiring resilience - she had to grow up fast from a very young age, surviving an extremely challenging childhood and youth, and overcoming the shocking legacy of intergenerational trauma, abuse and homelessness. She's also had to defy labels and perceptions about who she is, and her worth, all her life. But through it all, Brooke didn't just survive, she found her voice and thrived, and in this raw, heartbreaking, often funny and ultimately life-affirming memoir, Brooke lays her journey bare about how she refused to allow the past to define her and reclaimed her own identity - and realised the power of love, for herself, for her family, and her community.