When nine-year-old Tom Serafino’s twin sister, Teagan, suffers a debilitating brain injury, a police investigation implicates his playmate Mario’s uncle, a transient immigrant worker known as Shoe. Innocent of the crime but burdened by his own childhood tragedy, Shoe takes the blame for the accident caused by his young nephew, ensuring Mario’s chance at a future publicly unscarred.

Told in vivid scenes alive with imagery, this striking debut novel explores how the decisions we make in an instant reverberate for years to come. Can a lie born from resignation, fear, and love transform tragedy into hope? And is the life of one man worth the price of that lie?

Deeply empathetic and beautifully written, Apology offers a powerful vision of the measure of duty we have toward one another, and the extent to which abandoning the wreckage of family and the past often leads to unexpected consequences.