Many thanks to James Wade, Blackstone Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel. Narrow the Road has all the elements I’ve come to expect from a James Wade novel — a gripping coming-of-age story, an interesting historical setting, memorable characters, and stunning descriptions. This was a bleak story, and many times while reading it I was reminded of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. There was a lot here that I am still processing, days later. James Wade is a master of his craft and this novel, like his previous novels, is not to be missed.

A Luminous Journey Through America's Darkest Hour

James Wade has crafted something truly extraordinary with *Narrow the Road*, a coming-of-age masterpiece that captures both the brutal beauty of 1930s East Texas and the timeless struggle of young people forced to grow up too fast. This is historical fiction at its most visceral and moving—a novel that transports you so completely to its Depression-era setting that you can practically taste the dust and feel the oppressive heat of the Big Thicket.

William Carter emerges as one of the most compelling young protagonists in recent memory. Wade masterfully portrays a boy shouldering impossible burdens with a maturity beyond his years, yet never losing sight of his essential youth and vulnerability. The weight of keeping his family's farm afloat while searching for his missing father creates a tension that drives every page, and William's journey from desperate son to reluctant hero feels both inevitable and earned.

The friendship between William and Ollie provides the novel's emotional core. Their bond feels authentic and lived-in, enhanced by Ollie's unusual profession as a mortician-in-training—a detail that adds both dark humor and profound thematic weight to their adventure. Wade understands that true friendship is tested not in comfort but in crisis, and these boys face trials that would break lesser souls.

The Big Thicket itself becomes a character in Wade's capable hands. His descriptions of this untamed wilderness are so vivid and atmospheric that you can almost hear the pines creaking in the wind. The landscape serves as both sanctuary and threat, a place where civilization's rules don't apply and anything—beautiful or terrible—might emerge from the shadows.

Wade's gallery of supporting characters is nothing short of spectacular. From the enigmatic Lena, whose flight from the medicine show adds layers of danger and romance, to the genuinely menacing Doctor Downtain, every person William encounters feels fully realized. The inclusion of historical figures like Bonnie and Clyde adds authenticity without feeling gimmicky—they exist naturally within this world of desperate people making desperate choices.

What sets *Narrow the Road* apart is Wade's ability to balance breakneck adventure with moments of profound introspection. The novel works as both a thrilling quest narrative and a meditation on loyalty, sacrifice, and the painful transition from childhood to adulthood. William's moral choices feel weighty because Wade has established the stakes so clearly—this isn't just about finding his father, but about discovering who he's willing to become.

The prose is luminous throughout, combining the lean efficiency of classic adventure writing with poetic moments that capture the stark beauty of the American South during its most challenging era. Wade's dialogue rings with period authenticity while remaining immediately accessible to modern readers.

*Narrow the Road* stands as a triumphant achievement—a novel that honors the tradition of great American adventure stories while offering fresh insights into family, friendship, and the courage required to forge your own path. This is the kind of book that reminds you why storytelling matters, why some journeys are worth taking no matter the cost.

James Wade has written something special here, a novel that deserves to stand alongside the finest coming-of-age literature. Absolutely essential reading.

In a uniquely Texas voice with echoes of McCarthy and Hemingway, James Wade’s historical coming-of-age journey, Narrow the Road, gives us a page-turning buddy story in Depression-era East that’s as entertaining as it is weighty. Unable to face the looming death of his cancer-stricken mother and too destitute to help her, 15-year-old William sets out to pursue his elusive father, bushwhacking through the lushly-described Piney Woods, while sparring with his droll pal, Ollie. Narrow the Road rewards with historical accuracy and regional realism as Wade vivdly paints William’s urgent desires that conflict with his moral choices. The boy’s hunt for his father is all the more challenging as he ponders, “How do you go about changing a future that’s always and only one moment away?” Ollie brings the comic relief with his wise-cracking wisdom to give respite to the dark drama of their plight. But there’s no facing up to hard truths for William until he befriends a middle-of-the-night thief, a girl he falls for who’s an ace tracker he decides to trust, despite Ollie’s warnings. Persistent in his certainty that “My belief ain’t required for a thing to be true,” William matures as he learns, too late, what he yearns for isn’t where he expected it to be.

This may well be the best book I have read this year.

It is 1930s East Texas. William’s father is missing, his mother is dying, and the bank is about to take their farm.

William determines that he must find his father and return him home. With Ollie, his best friend, he sets off on an odyssey that leads them into great dangers. They meet up with Lena, another teenager, who has escaped from a medicine show and sticks with them.

These three are not Tom and Huck and Becky. The poverty is real. The violence is real. The sadness is real. And there is some magnificent writing, here describing a migrant caravan heading west: "There were old women and young children and there were proud, angry men and men who had already been broken. Men who walked by habit alone. Windup dolls of men who kept moving, kept breathing, but had been hollowed out long ago by a world that wouldn’t stop taking."