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The Light Between the Pines
Not yet published
Expected 8 Sep 26In the stillness of a pine grove, a wrecked car tells a story no one wants to hear.
Red Miller has lived long enough to know when someone is lying, especially his daughter, Gina. On an afternoon in early fall of 1979, Red gives Gina’s boyfriend money he knows he won’t see again, then watches his daughter slip further away, wondering where it all went wrong. Five years later, a call from an Idaho deputy changes everything: Gina has vanished after a fatal car crash, and Red has a grandson he’s never met. Haunted by his failures and the memory of a wife lost too soon, Red travels to a small Idaho town in search of answers. But what he finds is more than a mystery; it’s a reckoning-of love misspent, of the fragile ties that bind us, and of the strange, stubborn hope that still lingers in the quiet spaces between regret and redemption.
The Light Between the Pines is a powerful, slow-burning portrait of family and fallout, told with the sparse beauty and emotional precision of Kent Haruf’s Plainsong and Richard Ford’s Wildlife.
******
(The Light Between the Pines) is a quiet, deep character study of a man reckoning with his mistakes and shortcomings in a continuing effort to right his relationship with his daughter...Subdued and grounded.
--Kirkus Reviews
"The Light Between the Pines is a gripping and gorgeous novel about the lengths parents go to look out for their wayward children, even those beyond their help, and a community that does whatever it can to protect its most vulnerable members."
—-Scott Nadelson, author of Trust Me, and While it Lasts
"This beautifully wrought novel explores themes of family and resilience and by the end, as well as possible redemption. We believe in the “curious gift” of family as well as the renewal Red barely dared to believe in. A wonderful story."
—Jessica Barksdale Inclán, author of What the Moon Did and What They Found at the Lake.
"In this beautifully written page-turner, Red Miller struggles to find his thrill-seeking daughter, Gina, who is determined not to be found. Through obstacles both physical and emotional, Red discovers that he will go to any length to protect his daughter, bringing him--and the reader--to a deeper understanding of what it means to rediscover true unconditional love and acceptance in the hardest of circumstances."
--Dinah Manoff, author of The Read True Hollywood Story of Jackie Gold
"The Light Between the Pines broke my heart in the best possible way. Warren Read has a rare gift for lyrical, precise prose that illuminates the private griefs and stubborn hopes of a man of few words and deep, unexpressed feelings. At its core, this is a story of searching — for a missing daughter, for answers, for redemption. A beautifully written, profound meditation on parental love: what we carry, what we let go, and what, against all odds, we are given back. An extraordinary novel."
-A. J. Banner, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and #1 Kindle bestselling author
"The Light Between the Pines is one of those rare novels that understands that family mysteries are merely the stories we've been telling ourselves for so long that we've forgotten where the facts end and the longing begins.
Wise, compassionate, and quietly devastating, Warren Read's novel explores fathers and daughters, the debts we owe, the ones we can never repay, and the stubborn hope that survives even after a life has given us every reason to let it go. Set against the lonely landscapes of the American West, this is a story about loss, and the fragile bridges we spend our lives trying to build back to the people we love."
—Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Red Miller has lived long enough to know when someone is lying, especially his daughter, Gina. On an afternoon in early fall of 1979, Red gives Gina’s boyfriend money he knows he won’t see again, then watches his daughter slip further away, wondering where it all went wrong. Five years later, a call from an Idaho deputy changes everything: Gina has vanished after a fatal car crash, and Red has a grandson he’s never met. Haunted by his failures and the memory of a wife lost too soon, Red travels to a small Idaho town in search of answers. But what he finds is more than a mystery; it’s a reckoning-of love misspent, of the fragile ties that bind us, and of the strange, stubborn hope that still lingers in the quiet spaces between regret and redemption.
The Light Between the Pines is a powerful, slow-burning portrait of family and fallout, told with the sparse beauty and emotional precision of Kent Haruf’s Plainsong and Richard Ford’s Wildlife.
******
(The Light Between the Pines) is a quiet, deep character study of a man reckoning with his mistakes and shortcomings in a continuing effort to right his relationship with his daughter...Subdued and grounded.
--Kirkus Reviews
"The Light Between the Pines is a gripping and gorgeous novel about the lengths parents go to look out for their wayward children, even those beyond their help, and a community that does whatever it can to protect its most vulnerable members."
—-Scott Nadelson, author of Trust Me, and While it Lasts
"This beautifully wrought novel explores themes of family and resilience and by the end, as well as possible redemption. We believe in the “curious gift” of family as well as the renewal Red barely dared to believe in. A wonderful story."
—Jessica Barksdale Inclán, author of What the Moon Did and What They Found at the Lake.
"In this beautifully written page-turner, Red Miller struggles to find his thrill-seeking daughter, Gina, who is determined not to be found. Through obstacles both physical and emotional, Red discovers that he will go to any length to protect his daughter, bringing him--and the reader--to a deeper understanding of what it means to rediscover true unconditional love and acceptance in the hardest of circumstances."
--Dinah Manoff, author of The Read True Hollywood Story of Jackie Gold
"The Light Between the Pines broke my heart in the best possible way. Warren Read has a rare gift for lyrical, precise prose that illuminates the private griefs and stubborn hopes of a man of few words and deep, unexpressed feelings. At its core, this is a story of searching — for a missing daughter, for answers, for redemption. A beautifully written, profound meditation on parental love: what we carry, what we let go, and what, against all odds, we are given back. An extraordinary novel."
-A. J. Banner, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and #1 Kindle bestselling author
"The Light Between the Pines is one of those rare novels that understands that family mysteries are merely the stories we've been telling ourselves for so long that we've forgotten where the facts end and the longing begins.
Wise, compassionate, and quietly devastating, Warren Read's novel explores fathers and daughters, the debts we owe, the ones we can never repay, and the stubborn hope that survives even after a life has given us every reason to let it go. Set against the lonely landscapes of the American West, this is a story about loss, and the fragile bridges we spend our lives trying to build back to the people we love."
—Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
264 pages, Paperback
Expected publication September 8, 2026
About the author
Warren Read
5 books44 followersWarren Read is the author of the 2008 memoir, The Lyncher in Me (Borealis Books), and the novels One Simple Thing (2021, Ig Publishing) Ash Falls (2017, Ig Publishing) and The Light Between the Pines (2026, Ig Publishing). His short fiction has been published in Hot Metal Bridge, Mud Season Review, Sliver of Stone, Inklette, Switchback and The Drowning Gull. In addition, he has had two short plays directed and produced by Tony winner Dinah Manoff. In 2015 he received his MFA from the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University. In 2022 he retired after 31 years as an elementary teacher and high school associate principal.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Widower Red Miller has made peace with silence. He lives alone in a quiet mountain town, nursing a fractured relationship with his only daughter, Gina--an unwanted estrangement that he's long since accepted. But one day a deputy calls from a remote Idaho town. There's been a car crash. Gina, the presumed driver, is missing. Oh, and so is her child. Red, it turns out, is a grandfather.
Reluctantly drawn eastward, Red steps into the remnants of Gina’s life. As he searches through pine groves and rundown apartment buildings, Red encounters strangers who each hold a sliver of Gina’s story. Piece by piece, a portrait emerges: one of a young woman in free fall, and a father who may not be ready to stop her descent—but who might still catch the child she left behind.
Like Read's previous novels, this is a keen, well-developed character study of people longing for something. In this book's case, it's human connection, redemption and meaning. It's a quiet meditation on love, loss, and second chances, exploring the precarious bonds between parent and child, the shadows of what might have been, and the hope that still lives on. Fans of Kent Haruf, Charles Frazier, and Richard Ford will find much to admire in this spare, beautifully observed novel of redemption.
Reluctantly drawn eastward, Red steps into the remnants of Gina’s life. As he searches through pine groves and rundown apartment buildings, Red encounters strangers who each hold a sliver of Gina’s story. Piece by piece, a portrait emerges: one of a young woman in free fall, and a father who may not be ready to stop her descent—but who might still catch the child she left behind.
Like Read's previous novels, this is a keen, well-developed character study of people longing for something. In this book's case, it's human connection, redemption and meaning. It's a quiet meditation on love, loss, and second chances, exploring the precarious bonds between parent and child, the shadows of what might have been, and the hope that still lives on. Fans of Kent Haruf, Charles Frazier, and Richard Ford will find much to admire in this spare, beautifully observed novel of redemption.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
It is great when you come across a small-time author who writes a stellar story and when you read it you want to tell everyone about it so hopefully they read it too. This is the case with Warren Read's latest book.
This follows Red Miller who receives a phone call from an Idaho deputy. The calls are concerning Red's daughter who has been in an accident and cannot be found. Gina has always been a headstrong girl, and it seems to increase since the passing of her mother. For a few years Red barely knows where she is at and only hears from Gina when she needs something and it usually involves money. While Red looks for his daughter, he contemplates the life he had with his wife and what things and choices could have been different and if it would have made a difference on how Gina grew up. This is read is on the shorter side but a good story overall. I will definitely recommend it.
This follows Red Miller who receives a phone call from an Idaho deputy. The calls are concerning Red's daughter who has been in an accident and cannot be found. Gina has always been a headstrong girl, and it seems to increase since the passing of her mother. For a few years Red barely knows where she is at and only hears from Gina when she needs something and it usually involves money. While Red looks for his daughter, he contemplates the life he had with his wife and what things and choices could have been different and if it would have made a difference on how Gina grew up. This is read is on the shorter side but a good story overall. I will definitely recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews