August: We carry what we bury

by Ian Hanes

Rose Carter is gone, but she hasn't left. From somewhere just beyond the world of the living, she watches over the people her death left behind: the man who loved her, and the child who will grow up in the shadow of her absence.

That man is August Harper, a once-promising basketball star who abandons everything after Rose's death and retreats to his family's farm, carrying a grief he can no longer put into words. When an infant boy named John is left on his porch, August raises him the only way he knows how, with quiet devotion and restraint.

Thousands of miles away, in Beirut, Layla, a woman shaped by war, dictatorship and displacement, has spent years building a life from the wreckage of her past. But when the 2020 Beirut port explosion tears through the city, she is forced to face the grief she has buried for so long.

Spanning continents and generations, August: We carry what we bury is a story about the weight we carry in silence, and what it takes to finally set it down.

Genres: Fiction

268 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2026

About the author

Ian Hanes is a historian and former lecturer at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, one of Britain's oldest universities. He later served as headteacher of a residential school for children with complex needs and autism. He lives on the side of a mountain in North Wales with his two teenage daughters and their dog.

August: We carry what we bury is Ian's debut novel, born from research he began during the Covid pandemic, when he discovered the small town of Lebanon, Kansas, and found himself drawn to explore a deeper connection between rural American life and the Middle East. What began as a study of place became a story about grief, culture, and the universal threads that connect us all, regardless of where we come from.

The novel took its final shape after the loss of Ian's father, whose qualities and spirit shaped the novel's central figure. Ian describes August as, in many ways, a final conversation with him.

Ian is currently working on his second novel, A Passage of Time, drawing on notes discovered in his late father's garage alongside decades-old material of his own.

Reviews

[Sharon_🌺]

This.
Book.
⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️📖
I am still choked up, hours after reading this novel.

“AUGUST:We Carry What We Bury” by Ian Hanes is an emotional novel that will linger in the hearts of readers.
This book is currently available on Kindle Unlimited. I highly recommend it!

🌺 Read what you love! 🌺

[Karen.J.]

4 🌟

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. Extremely thought provoking for many days after reading it.

[Mirela W]

I was drawn to this book first by the cover then by the blurb and I honestly didn't think I would like it as much as I did.
August: We Carry What We Bury is a deeply emotional story that talks about grief, loss, hope, true love, family, resilience and so much more.
The characters feels so real and the stories presented takes you to different places and different lifestyles all connected by love.
The story really touched me and made me reflect on so many things: history, memories, connection, relationship, love.
If you like literary fiction with touching stories, this book is definitely for you.

[Ultimate World]

Book Review: August: We Carry What We Bury by Ian Hanes

August: We Carry What We Bury is a deeply moving literary novel that explores the enduring weight of grief, the resilience of the human spirit, and the invisible threads that connect lives across generations and continents. Ian Hanes crafts an emotionally rich story that examines not only what people lose but also what they carry forward in the wake of unimaginable sorrow.

The novel centers on August Harper, whose promising future is forever altered by the death of Rose Carter, the woman he loved. Choosing a quiet life on the family farm over his dreams, August becomes a man shaped by silence and loss. When an abandoned infant unexpectedly enters his life, his journey evolves into one of quiet redemption, demonstrating how love can return in unexpected forms even after profound heartbreak.

Adding remarkable emotional depth is Rose herself, whose perspective from the afterlife offers a unique lens through which the story unfolds. Her voice is observant, heartfelt, and occasionally witty, creating an intimate connection between the reader and the characters while emphasizing that love and memory continue to influence the living long after death.

The novel also expands beyond one family's story through Layla, an Iraqi-Lebanese woman whose experiences of war, displacement, and the devastating Beirut port explosion mirror the universal nature of grief. By weaving together lives separated by geography and culture, Hanes highlights how suffering, hope, and resilience transcend borders, creating a story with both personal and global significance.

One of the book's greatest strengths is its emotional honesty. Rather than rushing toward easy resolutions, it allows grief to unfold naturally, acknowledging its complexity while showing how compassion, family, and unexpected connections can slowly create space for healing. The themes of parenthood, memory, identity, and forgiveness are handled with sensitivity and depth.

The writing is lyrical and reflective, inviting readers to slow down and fully experience the emotional landscape of each character. Hanes balances intimate character moments with broader reflections on loss, making the novel feel both deeply personal and universally relatable.

Overall, August: We Carry What We Bury is a beautifully written and thought-provoking novel about love that endures beyond death, the burdens we inherit, and the healing found through human connection. Readers who appreciate emotionally driven literary fiction with richly developed characters and profound themes will find this to be a memorable and rewarding read that lingers long after the final page.

[Laura Martínez]

Brilliantly written! This is a historical fiction novel that develops from Kansas to Baghdad. It’s a story of loss, grief, resilience and empowerment. I could identify with one of the characters as I went through a similar experience. I sobbed as I read it because I could see myself in some of those scenes. Amazing reading!

[lily]

Rose Carter doesn't get out of the way in this one. She narrates from the other side of it, and Hanes leans into that risk — a dead woman explaining the living to us — fully aware readers will hear Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones underneath it before page thirty. What keeps it from tipping into pastiche is tone. Less elegiac hush, more a woman still capable of an eye-roll. She reports on August the way you report on someone you knew too well to be precious about.

August Harper himself is a familiar shape in rural American fiction — the grief-rationed man who trades a future for a farm, closer to Kent Haruf's Colorado ranchers than to anything invented fresh here. Hanes doesn't try to reinvent that archetype; he trusts the reader already recognizes it, and spends his pages instead on what disrupts the pattern: an abandoned infant showing up in a life that had organized itself around not wanting anything new. That's the stronger choice. The interest isn't in August's silence — silence is the default setting for this kind of character — it's in what has to give for him to speak again.

The harder swing is Layla, an Iraqi-Lebanese woman whose story runs through war, displacement, and the 2020 Beirut port explosion, which killed more than 200 people and leveled entire neighborhoods. Braiding a documented mass-casualty event into a novel built around private, invented grief isn't a neutral craft choice — it's a real risk. Handled carelessly, a real catastrophe becomes set dressing for someone else's emotional arc. Whether Hanes earns the connection, makes Layla load-bearing rather than illustrative of a theme the American plotline already needed, is the more useful question to sit with while reading than whether the prose is lyrical.

And that's the real structural bet of the book: three narrative registers — afterlife narration, quiet-man farm plot, geopolitically specific displacement story — each with its own genre gravity, running in parallel. That's ambitious math. The seams show most in the tonal jump between Rose's wit and the weight of Layla's material; not because either thread is weak on its own, but because the book is asking a reader to hold two very different registers of grief in the same hand without asking them to rhyme.

What the novel earns isn't atmosphere — it's refusal. No tidy arc, no forgiveness arriving on schedule. It rewards readers willing to let loss stay unresolved rather than explained, and it's most convincing exactly where it resists its own instinct toward warmth.

[Lester Jones]

Heartbreaking and Thought-Provoking
I expected August: We Carry What We Bury to be a simple historical love story, but it became a much larger story about family, injustice and survival.
Rose and August’s relationship is the emotional heart of the novel. Their quiet moments together feel especially powerful because they are surrounded by racism and social judgment. When tragedy strikes, August wins the biggest basketball game of his life while losing the person he loves.
The novel follows the consequences of that loss across generations and continents. Through characters in Kansas, Baghdad and Beirut, Ian Hanes explores grief, migration, war and the importance of remembrance.
Emotional and ambitious, this is a memorable story about buried truths, lasting love and the dignity of finally being remembered.


August: We carry what we bury

[Shravya]

August: We Carry What We Bury by Ian Hanes

There are some stories that arrive quietly but somehow leave a lasting ache behind, and August: We Carry What We Bury is one of those books for me. Ian Hanes has created a deeply atmospheric and emotionally layered novel that explores the complicated relationship between love, memory, grief, and the passage of time. From the very beginning, there is a sense that this is not a story meant to be rushed through, but one meant to be felt, reflected on, and allowed to settle in your heart.

What I especially appreciated was the way the book portrays grief as something much more complicated than simply losing someone and moving forward. August carries the weight of an absence that has changed the direction of his life, and his emotional journey feels incredibly human. His choices, regrets, memories, and moments of unexpected tenderness show how loss can quietly shape a person for years. Yet beneath all that sadness is a beautiful reminder that even after heartbreak, life can still offer unexpected reasons to keep going.

Rose’s perspective adds another fascinating and haunting dimension to the story. Watching the living world from beyond the grave, she remains emotionally connected to the people and possibilities she had to leave behind. Her voice brings a mixture of tenderness, longing, and quiet observation that makes the story feel almost dreamlike. I found this perspective particularly moving because it explores the idea that death may end a life, but it doesn’t necessarily erase the love, memories, or influence that person leaves behind.

Another strength of the novel is its sense of place and its interconnected storytelling. Moving between Kansas, Baghdad, and Beirut, the book expands its emotional landscape while showing how grief, displacement, love, and resilience can cross borders. The characters may come from different backgrounds and experiences, but their emotions feel universally recognizable. Hanes gives space to the quieter moments, allowing relationships and memories to unfold naturally rather than forcing everything into neat conclusions.

By the time I reached the end, I felt that August: We Carry What We Bury was ultimately less about what is lost and more about what remains. It is about the memories we carry, the people who continue to shape us, and the small moments of love that help us survive difficult chapters of life. Ian Hanes writes with a tenderness that makes this story feel intimate and deeply sincere. A thoughtful, beautifully atmospheric read for anyone drawn to literary fiction that explores grief, family, love, memory, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit.

[Mish Ali]

August: We Carry What We Bury by Ian Hanes is a touching novel about love, loss, family, and hope. The story follows August Harper, who returns to his family farm after the heartbreaking loss of Rose Carter. His life changes when a baby boy named John is left on his doorstep, and he chooses to raise him with love and care. Alongside August's journey, the novel also follows Layla, an Iraqi-Lebanese woman whose life is shaped by war and loss. As their stories unfold, the book beautifully shows how people from different places can be connected through love, grief, and hope.

One of my favorite things about this book is its characters. They feel real, with their own fears, dreams, and painful memories. Rose's voice gives the story warmth and emotion, while August's journey shows how love and responsibility can help a person keep going through grief. Layla's story is equally touching and adds another layer to the novel, showing courage and strength during very hard times. The author takes time to develop each character, which made me care about all of them.

On a personal level, this book reminded me that everyone carries memories that never truly leave them. Some memories bring sadness, while others give us the strength to move forward. I liked that the story does not rush. It allows every moment to have meaning, making the emotions feel honest and natural. By the end of the book, I felt connected to the characters and their journeys, and I kept thinking about them even after I finished reading.

I would happily recommend August: We Carry What We Bury to readers who enjoy emotional and character-driven novels. If you like stories about family, love, grief, forgiveness, and hope, this book is well worth reading. Ian Hanes has written a heartfelt and memorable novel that stays with you long after you turn the last page.

[M S Read]

"August: We Carry What We Bury" is not merely a novel; it is a meditation on memory, belonging, and the quiet resilience of ordinary lives. Ian Hanes writes with the tenderness of someone who understands that history is not only found in grand events, but in the whispered conversations, weathered hands, and unspoken longings that shape a community. Through Lebanon, Kansas, he creates a living landscape where time itself becomes a character, carrying the joys and sorrows of generations across the prairie.

What makes this story so powerful is its humanity. August Harper emerges as a deeply authentic figure, shaped by love rather than circumstance, and grounded by the unwavering devotion of his mother and grandfather. His journey unfolds against the backdrop of a changing America, yet Hanes never allows history to overshadow the intimate emotional truths of his characters. Every scene feels lived-in, every memory cherished, every loss deeply felt.

The novel’s most remarkable achievement is its voice. The narrator, watching across decades from beyond death, offers reflections that are both poetic and profoundly moving. Echoes of Kahlil Gibran can be felt throughout the narrative, particularly in its understanding that life and death are inseparable companions. The prose carries a gentle wisdom, inviting readers to pause, reflect, and consider the people and places that have shaped them.

At its heart, "August: We Carry What We Bury" is a story about the things that endure: love, memory, family, and hope. Ian Hanes has written a deeply compassionate novel that honors forgotten towns and overlooked lives with grace and dignity. Long after the final page, its characters remain with you, reminding us that what we carry within our hearts never truly leaves us.

[Read and review]

Some stories are about what happens. This one is about what remains.

August: We Carry What We Bury surprised me with how quietly it carries so much sadness. I kept coming back to the title while reading because August really does feel like someone who has buried a part of himself with Rose, yet somehow continues carrying her presence into everything that follows.

I especially liked the way Rose’s voice exists beyond her death. There is something incredibly tender about watching her observe August, John and the life continuing without her. It could have easily felt overly sentimental, but instead it gave the story a strange sense of intimacy.. as if grief itself had become a character.

August raising John also stayed with me. He isn't someone who suddenly finds the right words or magically moves past his loss. His love is shown through the quiet, ordinary things he does, which made his relationship with John feel more believable to me.

I also appreciated how the story expands beyond August and Rose, moving through places like Kansas and Beirut and touching on displacement, historical trauma, family and the ways people inherit memories they didn't personally experience. The Beirut sections especially added another layer to the book's idea of surviving after something has changed you forever.

What I liked most is that this isn't a story that treats grief as something we simply “get over.” It asks what it means to make room for life while still carrying the people and experiences that shaped us!:)

Sad, thoughtful and unexpectedly hopeful. I finished it feeling a little heavy, but also reminded that carrying the past doesn't always mean being trapped by it.

[Robert Brown]

I didn’t expect this book to stay with me the way it did.
August: We Carry What We Bury is one of those rare novels that feels quiet on the surface but hits incredibly deep if you let it. The story unfolds gently, but every chapter carries emotional weight. August is such a beautifully written character, reserved, strong and deeply human. Watching him step into fatherhood, not by choice but by circumstance, was both heartbreaking and inspiring.
What really stood out to me was the relationship between August and John. It felt real. Not overly dramatic, not forced, just honest. The kind of bond that grows slowly over time, built on small moments, sacrifice and love that isn’t always spoken out loud.
The writing itself is lyrical without being heavy and I found myself rereading certain passages because they were so thoughtful and true. There’s also this underlying theme about the past, how we carry it, how it shapes us, that really resonated with me.
This isn’t a fast-paced novel, but it’s not meant to be. It is a story you sit with, reflect on and feel. By the end, I realized it’s not just about August, it’s about all of us and the things we choose to hold onto.
Highly recommend if you enjoy emotional, character-driven stories that actually mean something.
August: We carry what we bury

[Book Enchanted]

Ian Hanes has pulled off something rare: a story about loss that feels wonderfully alive on every page. Rose Carter narrates from just beyond the living world, and her voice, tinged with wit and affection, turns the novel into an ongoing conversation between what was and what remains. She watches over August Harper, a once promising basketball star who leaves everything behind for his family's farm, and seeing him through her eyes is a real joy.

Hanes excels at restraint. August carries a grief he cannot put into words, so the arrival of an infant boy named John on his porch lands with genuine tenderness. Watching a man raise a child through quiet devotion rather than speeches gives the story its beating heart, and every small gesture counts. The emotions feel earned because the author trusts silence as much as dialogue.

Then the story sweeps to Beirut, where Layla, shaped by war, dictatorship and displacement, has spent years building a life from the wreckage of her past. The 2020 port explosion tears through the city, and she has to face the grief she buried long ago. The move between Kansas and Beirut could have felt like a stretch. Instead, one emotional thread ties both worlds together with real grace, and the reach across continents and generations gives the book a wonderful sense of depth.

Generous, moving and full of heart, this is a story about the weight we carry in silence and the relief of finally setting it down. A treat for lovers of literary fiction.

[Booksreview]

Have you ever read a story that settles deep into your soul and refuses to leave? 😭✨ I just turned the final page of *August* by Ian Hanes, and I am sitting here in absolute silence, completely blown away. Set in the quiet, shrinking prairie town of Lebanon, Kansas—the exact geographic center of America—this beautifully haunting novel is narrated by Rose, a young Black girl whose life was tragically cut short in the 1970s. From the afterlife, she watches over August, the boy she loved, as he carries the weight of her memory through the decades, eventually raising a son of his own named John.

Hanes’s writing style is pure poetry. He blends a deeply emotional coming-of-age story with rich historical reflections on everything from ancient Phoenician cities to the political rivalries of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. It’s a book about legacy, the endurance of love, and how we carry what we bury. Watching August navigate his grief with such quiet dignity broke my heart and mended it all at once. 🌾❤️

If I have one tiny critique, it’s that the historical digressions can occasionally slow down the pacing of the central plot, but they add such a unique, atmospheric depth that it’s hard to be mad at them!

This is an absolute masterpiece that explores the invisible threads connecting us all.

[George Henry]

This book surprised me in the best possible way.
August: We Carry What We Bury reads like a blend of literary fiction and quiet philosophy. It is not just telling a story, it’s exploring ideas about memory, responsibility and what it really means to live a meaningful life.
August is the kind of character you don’t often see anymore. He’s not flashy or dramatic, but there’s a quiet strength to him that makes you pay attention. His journey, especially as he raises John, is handled with such subtlety and care. Nothing feels exaggerated and that’s exactly why it works.
I also appreciated how the author weaves in reflections on history, nature and even broader societal moments without ever losing the emotional core of the story. It adds depth without feeling pretentious.
The pacing might not be for everyone; it is definitely more reflective than action-driven but if you enjoy books that make you think and feel at the same time, this is absolutely worth your time.
By the final chapters, I found myself genuinely moved. It’s the kind of book that lingers after you finish it, making you reflect on your own life and the things you carry.
A beautifully written and meaningful read.
August: We carry what we bury

[Nerdybibliophilee]

There are books you enjoy in the moment, and then there are books that stay with you long after the last page. “August: We Carry What We Bury” was the second kind for me. I didn’t finish it wanting to talk about the plot. I finished it wanting to sit in silence for a bit. It’s rare for a story to create that kind of stillness.

What I admired most was how patient it is. The storytelling never tries to impress you or force a reaction. It just lets life happen messy, unfinished, full of small moments that end up meaning the most. I got attached to the characters not because they were extraordinary, but because they felt real. Their struggles, hopes, and quiet resilience reminded me how personal and slow healing can be.

The writing has a calm confidence to it. There were passages I had to pause on because they put feelings into words that are usually hard to name. The novel doesn’t hand you easy answers. It trusts you to sit with the questions, and I think that’s why it sticks. It’ll probably mean something different depending on where you are in your own life.

When I think back on this book, I won’t remember one event or one character. I’ll remember it as a story about what people carry after everyone else has moved on and about how love, memory, and hope keep shaping us in quiet ways. That’s what made it such a rewarding, deeply human read for me.

[ReadsRoot]

Have you ever opened a novel and immediately felt the temperature in the room shift? That was my exact experience diving into this stunning story, which bridges the heartbreaking distance between Baghdad, Beirut, and quiet Kansas towns with prose that feels more like poetry than traditional print.

We follow an intimate narrative told from an extraordinary perspective: a young Black girl watching from beyond the veil as the boy she loved navigates the agonizing ache of her absence. Through her ghostly, tender gaze, the book explores how memory and longing knit us together across continents and even beyond the grave, asking what remains when a life is suddenly cut short.

Ian Hanes writes with a gorgeous, lyrical style that carries immense emotional weight without ever feeling heavy-handed. The exploration of grief, resilience, and the invisible threads connecting ordinary people through extraordinary loss is handled with breathtaking grace. Reading this late at night, I found myself pausing over paragraphs just to let the sheer beauty of the phrasing wash over me, completely moved by how honestly it captures the quiet agony of letting go.

My only minor critique is that the shifting geographical backdrops occasionally blur the timeline just enough to require a second read of a few transitional chapters.

[Indian Booklover]

Shelf match alert for fans of The Lovely Bones. Like Alice Sebold's novel, Ian Hanes gives us a narrator who watches the living from beyond death, and Rose Carter's view of the people she left behind carries that same beautiful ache. Hanes makes the idea his own, though. Rose keeps an eye on August Harper, a once promising basketball star hiding out on his family's farm, and on a baby boy named John, left on August's porch, who changes the shape of everything.

Readers of Kent Haruf's Plainsong will spot a kindred spirit in the farm scenes. Both books trust quiet people and small acts of care to carry emotional weight, and both show lonely lives opening up as someone unexpected arrives. Haruf's small town Colorado and Hanes's Kansas feel like neighbours in spirit, and Hanes writes with the same generous, steady heart.

Then comes Layla in Beirut. If Khaled Hosseini's novels of war, family and hard won hope have ever left you glowing and wrecked in equal measure, her journey through dictatorship, displacement and the 2020 port explosion will speak straight to you. Her story shares that belief that ordinary lives caught in enormous events deserve to be seen with care.

Three favourite shelves meet in one book: the afterlife narrator, the quiet farm story and the war shaped family saga. Add it to your list today, and keep tissues nearby.

[Anderson Sandy]

August: We carry what we buryA Story That Stays With You
August: We Carry What We Bury is one of those books that feels much bigger than a single character or a single lifetime. What begins as the deeply moving story of August and Rose gradually expands into a reflection on love, prejudice, grief, history, family and the memories people carry even when they rarely speak about them.
I especially loved Rose as the narrator. Her voice can be funny, tender, sharp and heartbreaking, sometimes within just a few pages. Her relationship with August is beautifully understated, which somehow makes what happens to them even more painful. The scenes of them quietly talking after basketball practice and dreaming about the lives they might have are among the moments that stayed with me most.
This is not a conventional love story and that is exactly what makes it memorable. It asks what happens when love survives the person, the moment and even the secrets surrounding it. By the final pages, the idea that we truly do “carry what we bury” feels earned rather than simply stated.
A thoughtful, emotional and ambitious novel that left me thinking about the people and stories we inherit long after I finished reading.

[Bookworm Choice]

As someone who loves emotionally rich literary fiction, August: We Carry What We Bury by Ian Hanes completely captured my heart. 💛 From the very first chapter, I felt as though I was quietly walking beside these characters, carrying their grief, hope, and unspoken love. This isn't a fast-paced novel, but rather one that invites you to slow down and truly feel every moment.

What touched me most was how beautifully the story explores loss without ever becoming overwhelming. Rose's presence lingers so tenderly throughout the novel, reminding us that love doesn't simply disappear with death. August's quiet devotion, John's innocence, and Layla's journey through war, displacement, and healing create a deeply moving tapestry of human resilience.

Ian Hanes writes with remarkable sensitivity, weaving together lives across continents in a way that feels both intimate and profound. Every chapter left me reflecting on the invisible connections we share and the memories we carry within us.

This is one of those rare books that stays with you long after you've turned the final page. Heartbreaking, hopeful, and incredibly beautiful, it's a story I won't forget. Highly recommended for anyone who appreciates thoughtful, character-driven fiction. 📖✨
.

[Daniel Mak]

Ian Hanes’s August: We Carry What We Bury is an ambitious and moving novel that blends romance, history, grief, and political memory. At its heart is the relationship between Rose and August, two young people whose love develops in 1970s Kansas under the pressure of racial prejudice and small town judgment. Rose’s voice gives the story warmth, intelligence, and emotional force, even as tragedy shapes the lives that follow. The novel moves beyond Kansas to Baghdad, Beirut, and other places marked by war, migration, disaster, and survival. This wider scope gives the book a sense of shared human history, showing how private sorrow can connect with national and global events. Hanes writes with compassion for farmers, refugees, families, and forgotten victims. August is a thoughtful story about what people carry, what communities bury, and why love and memory can endure long after a life has ended, against all possible odds.
Start reading today and discover what you’ve been carrying. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H3M2GCJJ/


August: We carry what we bury

[Illyon D]

August: We Carry What We Bury is a layered novel about love, injustice, family, and the lasting weight of memory. Ian Hanes creates an unforgettable bond between Rose and August, then uses their story to examine how one loss can shape an entire lifetime. The Kansas setting is vivid, from the crowded basketball gym to the quiet family farm and the gradual decline of a thriving town. As the narrative expands to Iraq and Lebanon, the book explores dictatorship, displacement, the Beirut explosion, and the pandemic without losing sight of the individuals caught inside those events. Rose is a particularly compelling narrator. Her humour, ambition, tenderness, and anger ensure that she is never reduced to a victim. The novel asks difficult questions about remembrance, responsibility, prejudice, and justice. Readers who enjoy historical fiction, sweeping family stories, and emotionally grounded novels will find much to admire in this heartfelt and wide reaching book.
Start reading today and discover what you’ve been carrying. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H3M2GCJJ/


August: We carry what we bury

[Pooja]

August: We Carry What We Bury by Ian Hanes is the kind of book that quietly works its way into your thoughts. It isn’t simply a story about losing someone; it is about what happens afterward, when the world keeps moving even though your own life feels permanently changed. The emotional atmosphere of the novel is beautifully restrained, and I appreciated how much meaning Hanes finds in silence, memory, and the small moments between people.

August is a character who feels wonderfully human because his grief doesn’t disappear just because time passes. His relationship with Rose continues to influence the person he becomes, and the unexpected arrival of a child introduces a tenderness into his life that feels both heartbreaking and hopeful. Rose’s perspective adds another emotional layer, allowing the story to explore love from a place beyond the living world.

What I loved most is that the novel doesn’t offer an easy definition of healing. Instead, it suggests that sometimes we learn to carry our losses rather than overcome them. The writing is reflective, atmospheric, and full of emotional depth. This is a beautiful choice for readers who enjoy literary fiction that leaves you thinking about its characters long after the final page.

[Debashis Bandyopadhyay]

Picture the trailer. A farm porch, a baby left behind, and a woman's voice drifting in from just beyond the living world. That is August: We Carry What We Bury, and it plays like a film you will never want to leave.

Rose watching over the people she loved brings Ghost to mind, with that same bright conviction that love keeps reaching across the line between life and death. August, a once promising basketball star closing himself off on the family farm, carries the hushed, heavy grief you might remember from Manchester by the Sea. Hanes lets warmth seep in through John, the infant who arrives on his porch, and the effect is pure comfort, like the moment a quiet film finally lets the sunlight in.

As the story stretches from Kansas to Beirut and across generations, the multigenerational sweep of This Is Us comes to mind, with its family bonds and its tears that sneak up on you. Layla's Beirut thread, set around the 2020 port explosion, adds the kind of scale that belongs on a giant screen, and her past of war and displacement gives the film in your head a powerful second heart.

Every strand has the emotional pull of a great drama series and the intimacy of a small, tender feature. Dim the lights, grab tissues and let this one play out in your heart.

[Gowthami]

There is something incredibly intimate about August: We Carry What We Bury. Ian Hanes writes about grief without making it feel exaggerated or artificial. The sadness in this story comes through in quiet ways—in memories, missed possibilities, relationships that have changed, and the things people never get the chance to say. That subtle approach made the emotional moments feel even more genuine to me.

August’s story really stayed with me. He is someone who has been forced to live with an absence that cannot simply be repaired, yet he continues to find reasons to care and connect. Rose’s voice gives the novel an unusual beauty, especially as she observes the lives continuing without her. I also appreciated the way the different characters and locations broaden the story beyond one person’s sorrow.

This book reminded me that the past doesn’t always need to be forgotten in order for us to move forward. Sometimes our memories become part of the strength we carry into the future. Thoughtful, poignant, and beautifully atmospheric, August is a novel I would recommend to anyone looking for a story with emotional substance rather than a quick, predictable read.

[Priyanka]

Some novels leave you excited to tell everyone about the plot, while others leave you thinking about the emotions they stirred up. For me, August: We Carry What We Bury belongs to the latter category. It is a deeply reflective story about the complicated relationship between love and loss, and I found myself appreciating the emotional honesty more and more as I read.

August’s journey is filled with choices shaped by grief, but what makes him compelling is that he never feels like someone reduced to his sadness. There is warmth, responsibility, affection, and hope within him too. Rose’s presence from beyond the grave makes the novel especially moving, because her perspective keeps reminding us that a person’s influence can continue long after their physical presence is gone.

I finished this book with the feeling that I had read something much bigger than a story about one family. It is about the memories we inherit, the people who change us, and the ways love continues to exist in unexpected forms. Beautifully written and emotionally sincere, this is a book that deserves to be read slowly.

[Ramesh]

There are moments in August: We Carry What We Bury that feel incredibly quiet, yet somehow those were the moments that affected me the most. The novel understands that heartbreak isn’t always dramatic. Sometimes it is simply waking up and realizing that someone who once belonged in your future is no longer there. Ian Hanes captures that kind of emotional absence with remarkable sensitivity.

August’s relationship with Rose and the life he builds afterward create a deeply touching portrait of how people adapt to circumstances they never chose. The introduction of a child into his life brings an unexpected sense of purpose and reminds him that love can take new forms. Rose’s perspective makes the story even more bittersweet, because she remains emotionally present while being unable to participate in the life unfolding around her.

This is a book about remembrance as much as it is about loss. It made me think about the people we carry with us, even when years have passed and circumstances have changed. Emotional without being overly sentimental, August is a memorable literary novel with a lot of heart.

[Sweety Grover]

I just finished August by Ian Hanes and my heart feels so full and heavy at the same time. This is not a fast book, it's a slow and quiet one that stays with you.

What I loved the most is the voice of the girl who is narrating from beyond. She is gone but she is still watching the boy she loved. It's so tender and sad. You can feel her love, her restlessness, how she wants to hold on but also wants him to live on.

The book travels from Kansas to Baghdad and Beirut but it never feels too much. It feels very personal and intimate, like you are reading someone's private memories. It talks about grief in such a real way - how life goes on but some part of you is still stuck with the person you lost.

The writing is so beautiful and simple. Some lines I had to read twice because they were so true. This book made me cry quietly and also gave me hope.

If you love emotional, soulful stories about love and loss, please read this. It will stay in your heart for a long time.

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[Anna Roberts]

I am first and foremost attracted to a book by a cover. Aren't we all influenced initially by what we see? The cover colour of August/Autumn made me want to open the book and the sonnet by the bard with the depth it conjures up drew me forward and me wonder - who was Greta? Why was this her favourite poem. It was through evoking start to chapter 1.
Rose Carter, the young dead black girl who is the narrator moves with ease through this thoughtful, beautifully written descriptive story that links the here and now with things which have passed.
It crossed boundaries of love, culture, hatred, grief, solitude, Deep happiness and reflection. They why, what and when of everyday life is bound by and invisible thread and forces us to examine our lives. Are we who we think we are? How do others se us? We have all experienced the deep feelings in this debut novel. Its expressive and examines parts of each of us we maybe loathe to recognise.
We warmth and heartbreak of life in a nutshell. An amazing book!

[Sahaja]

Reading August: We Carry What We Bury felt like stepping into someone else’s memories and being invited to stay there for a while. The novel has a wonderfully contemplative quality, and I loved how Ian Hanes allows the emotional weight of the story to build gradually. Rather than constantly pushing the drama forward, the book gives its characters room to breathe, remember, hurt, and change.

The relationship between August and Rose forms such a powerful emotional foundation. Even after Rose is gone, her presence remains woven into August’s life in ways that are impossible to ignore. I found Rose’s perspective particularly touching because it captures the strange combination of love and helplessness that comes with watching the people you care about continue without you.

There is a quiet wisdom throughout this novel. It made me think about how every person carries invisible pieces of their past, and how those pieces can influence the way they love, parent, forgive, and survive. Hanes has created a deeply human story that doesn’t need to shout to make an impact.